Season on the Blink for Furyk

For Jim Furyk, it’s the end of a long year that has taken more turns than his swing. Furyk used to say it would always be easy to recognize him on the fairway because he’d be the one with the loopy swing that looked as if it had been assembled out of a box.

Then he won the 2003 U.S. Open and took his recognition factor to a new level, which took off in yet another direction when he tore cartilage in his left wrist. He played twice in January, then, after having arthroscopic surgery in March, was sidelined for five months.

But there he was on the putting green in the cold mist at dusk Wednesday at Sherwood Country Club, the day before the last tournament of the year, and the only player still working on his game.

“That tells you something about Jim Furyk,” Jay Haas said. “Sure, he had a bad break, not being able to follow up this year after winning the U.S. Open, but he’s such a great competitor and he’ll be back to where he was.”

It will have to happen in 2005, because this year was a washout for Furyk, who missed six cuts and had only two top-10 finishes, none after the first week of August. That was a long way from his mark of six consecutive years of winning at least one tournament, second only to Tiger Woods’ nine-year streak.

“My year is over, I’ve made my peace with it, it’s done,” Furyk said. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Still, there is this unofficial tournament. Furyk’s four-under-par 67 Thursday earned him a share of the lead and a healthy start to run at the $1.25-million winner’s share of the Target World Challenge -- the largest paycheck for a winner of any tournament other than the British Open.

Furyk says his wrist is sound, he has no health issues, he’s looking forward to next year and he’s happy his late-season schedule of five consecutive tournaments is over. He said that was probably too much to do, but he had a good reason -- his wrist.

“So everyone would quit asking me about it,” he said.

When he is paired with Woods this morning, Furyk can see what kind of shape his game is in and not his wrist, although both seemed good enough for him to tie Woods and Colin Montgomerie for the first-round lead.

For Furyk, it’s a good way to say goodbye to a lousy year and to prepare himself for a quick start to the next one. He made his comeback at the U.S. Open to defend his title and, less than three months after surgery, tied for 48th.

He wasn’t able to hit full shots for two months after surgery, and didn’t play even nine holes until two weeks before the Open at Shinnecock Hills.

Even though he missed the cut at the British Open and the PGA Championship, Furyk considered it a positive sign that he was even able to play in them, as well as the Ryder Cup.

Woods said he expected Furyk to make it all the way back next year.

“All he needs to do is get his competitive edge back and that’s just playing and competing,” Woods said. “As always, he’ll fight you to the very end.”

He will also be good at it, judging by his bank account. He has made $19.7 million in his 11-year career and he’s only 34.

If it works out for him, there may be more major titles to come.

Fred Couples, who has had his moments of coming back from injuries, said Furyk was sure to rebound.

“Jim Furyk, coming off an injury, didn’t win this year, right? Not a big deal,” Couples said. “The guy wants to get healthy and he’s got plenty of years to go, but he’s got a ton of respect from the guys he’s played with.”

Couples added, “You’re going to watch a tournament and then you say, ‘Hey, Jim Furyk is over there, John Daly is over here,’ most people are going to venture and find John Daly. You’ve got to live with that. But there’s a lot of guys that people don’t quite understand how good they are.”