Furyk's slip on the 16th

[TN94z]

As we all saw, Jim Furyk didn't need much to win the US Open. But we all know that anything can happen with the U.S. Open course setup and that was the case on Sunday.  Furyk was asked about the mistake made and here is his answer:

Quote:

JIM FURYK: The tee was a hundred yards up.  So I'll be quite honest, it was 99 yards up from the back of the very back tee.  I know the USGA gives us a memo saying that they play from multiple tees, but there's no way to prepare for a hundred yards.  So there's no way that you're, I thought that they put the tee up like they did, maybe 65 yards up on Friday, but to get to a tee where the tee box is a hundred yards up and the fairway makes a complete L turn, I was unprepared and didn't know exactly where to hit the ball off the tee.  And I took a little bit more of an aggressive route with that 3‑wood.

In hindsight, I like the way Graeme played the hole.  He played it 2‑iron, 2‑iron, and sand wedge.  And I don't know what to say, other than there's no way anyone else in the field was prepared for the tee to be that far up.  I just didn't handle it very well.  And I'm not sure I hit the wrong club off the tee, but probably hit the wrong shot off the tee.  And that probably as much as anything forced me to make a poor swing.


It's awkward.  That happens, that's happened quite a bit in the setups here in the last six and seven years and I want to be clear, I really like the way Mike sets the golf course up, I think he's done a great job.  But there's always one round where, towards that late in the day, where you grab a hole and it's much different than you would expect it.  And there's no way when we play our practice rounds you're going to hit a shot from a tee a hundred yards up unless someone tells you.

But the rest of the field had that same shot to hit today and I'm pretty sure no one hit as shitty a shot as I did, so.  I did the best, the worst job of handling it and I have no one to blame but myself.  I should have hit a different shot off the tee and if anything you need to miss that fairway to the right to never to the left.  So it makes mine twice as bad.

More on the story can be found here:

http://www.golfworldmonday.com/golfworldmonday/20120618/?pg=11±=1&u1;=friend#pg11

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/golf--olympic-s-legacy-of-fallen-contenders-continues-as-jim-furyk-watches-u-s--open-slip-away.html

So my question to you guys is, do you think having the tee moved so far forward on Sunday with no notice was a bit much or do you think these moves are perfectly okay?

[newtogolf]

Have to appreciate Furyk's honesty and restraint to cast blame anywhere but on himself.   He said the USGA makes them aware of potential tee box positions so I'd say it was within their rights to do so.  He was the last group to tee off, had he or his caddie watched the early coverage he'd have known more in advance and possibly had time to practice an appropriate shot on the range.  It's a Major you can't leave things to chance especially when you know what they already did to prepare 16 for the US Open.

[Mr3Wiggle]

I made the same comment to a co-worker yesterday.  Seemed like a severe dogleg left when the tee was moved up that far.

[MEfree]

Yes, a 100 yards is a big difference, but the hole was still over 550 and nobody reached it in 2.  I guess my point is that if any hole was going to be moved forward 100 yards, then this was the one.

As Furyk acknowledged, he made a really bad swing- while I understand that indecision and uncertainty make it harder to make your best swing, a Champion golfer has to be able to block this out and make a good swing (and hope for the best)- to paraphrase a TV coverage (I think at #17 at the Players)- better to be 100% committed than to be 100% correct.  Had Furyk made a decent swing, I think there is a good chance he would have ended up making a better score on the hole even if the club and shot he selected were not perfect.

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Have to appreciate Furyk's honesty and restraint to cast blame anywhere but on himself.   He said the USGA makes them aware of potential tee box positions so I'd say it was within their rights to do so.  He was the last group to tee off, had he or his caddie watched the early coverage he'd have known more in advance and possibly had time to practice an appropriate shot on the range.  It's a Major you can't leave things to chance especially when you know what they already did to prepare 16 for the US Open.

I forget who I saw interviewed after their round, but he made a comment about his caddie watching a lot of golf and saying that helped him with a putt that everyone was missing the same way.

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by TN94z

So my question to you guys is, do you think having the tee moved so far forward on Sunday with no notice was a bit much or do you think these moves are perfectly okay?

I think they're perfectly okay.

As far as 'no notice', IIRC they announcers were talking on Saturday about how 16 was going to be moved up on Sunday, so I don't necessarily buy that the players were unaware.

Secondly, I find it difficult to believe that it would affect a professional golfer that much. Fuyrk's coming off like it was some kind of shock to his system that he couldn't process.

As well, it appears he chose the proper club to hit off the tee - a hybrid. It's not the USGA's fault he hit an ugly-ass pull-hook. What - if the tees were back you would have striped a driver? Ain't buying it.

[Motley01]

Why didn't Jim turn on his TV in his hotel room, and watch the coverage to find out what 16 was playing from which tees. I mean the commentators were talking about this a lot.

It's just hard to beleive he didn't know until they walked up to the tee box. I think he's just blaming a bad shot. I mean, if he duck hooked it 100 yards back, would it have made a difference? I don't think so.....

[MEfree]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

What - if the tees were back you would have striped a driver?

[zipazoid]

No, I get that it's an entirely different shot from 100y back. What I'm saying is, he's sounding like the forward tees made him hit a bad shot & if they were back he wouldn't have.

[xxsoultonesxx]

That hole shocked me. I have never seen Furyk so mad on the course. And his second shot wasn't a whole lot better.

[Gregoryhouse]

Don't forget that both Jim and Graeme were warned about their slow playing on 15. Maybe he rushed a little bit on 16th tee......

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by Gregoryhouse

Don't forget that both Jim and Graeme were warned about their slow playing on 15. Maybe he rushed a little bit on 16th tee......

Now I think you're getting to the better reason for explaining the bad shot.

[Eddie Garrison]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

Now I think you're getting to the better reason for explaining the bad shot.

That's probably the best explanation of it. Felt rushed. Went to the next tee, which happened to be this tee in question. Still feeling rushed, just hit a poor shot while in a bad state of mind from the warning he and McDowell received on the prior hole.

[caniac6]

If he felt rushed, it was the only time all day he felt rushed. There are a lot of guys with reputations as slow players, but Furyk has got to be one of the worst. All this starting and backing off  is brutal. It has to be difficult to play with him. He deserved the warning.

[AmazingWhacker]

It reads to me like what he's saying is that the uncertainly of not knowing what shot to hit caused him to make a poor swing.  I buy that.

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by caniac6

If he felt rushed, it was the only time all day he felt rushed. There are a lot of guys with reputations as slow players, but Furyk has got to be one of the worst. All this starting and backing off  is brutal. It has to be difficult to play with him. He deserved the warning.

..on the 69th hole of the U.S. Open with a one shot lead?

I know many will say doesn't matter - the rule's the rule. If that's your position then stop reading.

If you're still here -

While a 'technically' correct action cuz they were out of position, it was horrible timing. And I don't see what the benefit was in informing the last group of the day in the last round of the biggest tournament on the planet (apoligies to the Brits) with the leader of the tournament in the group. I think this was a 'swallow your whistle' situation. Let them play. God forbid NBC doesn't get to run a couple of extra ads showing the U.S. in 25th place in the world on math scores, eh?

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by AmazingWhacker

It reads to me like what he's saying is that the uncertainly of not knowing what shot to hit caused him to make a poor swing.  I buy that.

Same here. It's surprising that mentally he couldn't be more composed in that situation but maybe it was the combination of the forward tee along with rushing due to the warning that caused the uncertainty. It's a shame and I think that poor shot caused him to lose his composure through the rest of the round.

[iacas]

..on the 69th hole of the U.S. Open with a one shot lead? I know many will say doesn't matter - the rule's the rule. If that's your position then stop reading.

Be honest, zip: that's just another way of saying "if you don't agree with me, I don't want to hear from you." [quote name="zipazoid" url="/t/59484/furyks-slip-on-the-16th/0_100#post_727737"]While a 'technically' correct action cuz they were out of position, it was horrible timing. And I don't see what the benefit was in informing the last group of the day in the last round of the biggest tournament on the planet (apoligies to the Brits) with the leader of the tournament in the group. I think this was a 'swallow your whistle' situation. Let them play. God forbid NBC doesn't get to run a couple of extra ads showing the U.S. in 25th place in the world on math scores, eh? [/quote] Absolutely that's the best time. What other time should they have done it? The second hole? He wasn't out of position on the second hole. If we allowed officials to use their "discretion" on when to warn people, then we get into arguments about how the official screwed a player up, or was grandstanding, or blah blah blah blah blah. The best rules are the black and white ones, and this one was black and white - he was slow, the group was warned. It didn't seem to bother Graeme so much. As Jim said: 2-iron, 2-iron, SW. Furyk's lousy shot on 16 had next to nothing to do with being warned 20 minutes prior. Furthermore, so what? Jim couldn't overcome the thought of having been WARNED 20 minutes prior to hitting a shot on the 16th tee? If that's the case then he didn't deserve to win. Give me a break. It's not like he actually rushed the shot. He wasn't on the clock. He could have taken five minutes to play the shot and he would not have been penalized. He may have been put on the clock immediately after that, but all you have to do then is play your shots under the time limit (or get back into position, which wasn't going to happen). Jim Furyk is slow. Perhaps if he feels that it's even 1% of the reason he lost, he'll play faster. "Let them play" doesn't apply to golf like it might apply in other sports. Every guy out there is playing for something, and "let them play" applies to team-on-team or person-on-person sports which, by their very nature, are thus conducted under the same rules. Holding Graeme/Jim to a different set of rules isn't fair to everyone else.

[Zeph]

I don't understand how one of the best players in the world is unable to adjust to tees changing 100 yards. He could've hit a 7 iron and play it like he did the previous days. If he didn't feel confident about turning over a 3-wood that much, leave the club in the bag and hit an iron, like Graeme did. He hit a crappy shot, that is all. If you can't cope with a surprise like that, or with being warned about slow play, you don't deserve to win the US Open. I don't see anyone else who had problems with snap hooks off that tee on sunday. [QUOTE]“We never heard all week from the USGA that they were going to move the tee up there,” Woods said. “They said it was going to be 602 and 675 and we come out there today and it’s 575.[/QUOTE] Is really 25 yards such a big deal? The players got time to figure out the exact yardages when standing on the tee and finding the proper club, regardless of how much they moved the tees up.