Furyk, DiMarco have made major strides
MEDINAH, Ill. – This week in the PGA Championship, two names that should show up near the top of the leader board are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Increasingly, whenever major championships roll around, there are two others: Jim Furyk and Chris DiMarco.
Almost without notice, Furyk, 36, has parlayed an unorthodox but dependable swing into a No. 3 world ranking, behind only Woods and Mickelson, in that order.
Furyk has won one major, the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields in Chicago. His climb to the top echelons of golf has been sure and steady, never more so than since his recovery from arthroscopic surgery on his left wrist in March 2004.
Last year, he rose to fourth on the PGA Tour money list, thanks in large measure to his win at the Western Open. This year, with his triumph at the Wachovia Championship in May plus eight other top-10 finishes, Furyk ranks second on the money list with $4.7 million, trailing only Woods, who has won $5.1 million.
Except for the Masters, where he shot 75s on Friday and Sunday to finish tied for 22d, Furyk has been at his best this year in the majors.
At the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Furyk hung tough until the end, for a tie for second. At the British Open at Hoylake, where Woods reigned supreme, Furyk made a major move on Saturday with a 6-under-par 66 before finishing alone in fourth.
Despite such a good year, on the eve of its final major, Furyk once again finds himself laboring in the shadows of the game’s two top stars, Woods and Mickelson. Furyk swears it doesn’t bother him.
“It’s never mattered,” he said this week. “I’m happy with where I stand in the world of golf, and I’m happy with the way I’ve been playing. Whether or not I show up on TV every week vs. Tiger or Phil or whoever, it is not important to me.”
“I think the guys who get the attention, or get more attention than me, are deserving of it and are obviously great players. I get my due.”
DiMarco, 37, who is suddenly making the best of a bad year, also has high hopes this week.
Since his first PGA Tour victory at the late, almost great, 2000 SEI Pennsylvania Classic at Waynesborough Country Club, DiMarco has also fought his way into the top ranks of the game.
Somewhat surprisingly, DiMarco, who has only three wins total, has made a name for himself more on grit, determination, and strong showings in the Ryder and Presidents Cups.
Last fall in the Presidents Cup, it was DiMarco who buried a putt needed to vanquish the Internationals, and in 2004 he was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal drubbing of the U.S. team in the Ryder Cup.