Jim Furyk
West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
James Michael Furyk (born May 12, 1970) is an American professional golfer, known for consistently playing at the top level and for a visibly unconventional, looping golf swing. In September 2006 he reached a career high of second in the Official World Golf Rankings. He has ranked in the top-10 for over 250 weeks between 1999 and 2008.
Furyk was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His early years were spent in the Pittsburgh suburbs learning the game from his father, who was head pro at Uniontown Country Club near Pittsburgh. He graduated from Manheim Township High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1988 where he was a standout basketball player in addition to being a state champion golfer. He attended the University of Arizona and turned professional in 1992.
Furyk won at least one tournament each year on the PGA Tour between 1998 and 2003. At the time, this was the second best streak of winning seasons behind Tiger Woods and he made the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings. Furyk’s biggest win to date came on June 16, 2003, when he tied the record for the lowest 72-hole score in U.S. Open history to win his first major championship.
In 2004 he only played in fourteen events after missing three months due to surgery to repair cartilage damage in his wrist and he fell out of the top hundred on the money list, but he returned to good form in 2005 and regained his top ten ranking, winning a PGA Tour event in that year and two in 2006.
In the 2006 season, he finished a career-high second on the money list and won the Vardon Trophy for the first time. He also had a career-best thirteen top-10 finishes, including nine top-3s, four second-place finishes, and two victories.
The only instructor he has ever used is his dad, Mike Furyk, which may account for his unusual swing. His caddy is Mike “Fluff” Cowan, who was Tiger Woods’ caddy for Woods’ first two years as a professional.
Jim Furyk’s trademark golf swing involves a distinctive looping motion. At address, he would stand near the golf ball, with the ball right in front of the heel of the golf club. Since his body is near the ball, his arms then must travel vertically during the take-away. This leads to an unusually linear club position at the top, as the club is almost perpendicular to the ground. As Mike Furyk describes in a Golf Digest issue in 2001, Jim Furyk’s hips “underturn” during the backswing and “overturn” coming down. At the downswing, he would draw a large arc behind his body (viewing from his right hand side), then paste his elbow against his right hip during impact (due to the closed setup), which is facing squarely to the target.
This move was controversial during Jim Furyk’s early career; however, his father never forced him to change what came naturally to him. Jim Furyk’s well-known ball-striking precision is now serving him well on the professional tour.
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