Good guy Furyk is almost great

“Nice guys,” feisty baseball manager Leo Durocher said famously years ago, “finish last.” That even was the title of Leo the Lip’s autobiography.

In the case of Jim Furyk, one of the good guys on the PGA Tour, he often finishes second, a total of 29 times in his 22-year career — including seven times since his last victory in 2010, four of those runner-up results coming in 2014.

Not only that, but he is 0-for-7 during that time when holding at least a share of the lead heading to the final round.

Furyk, 44, will continue trying to reverse that trend this week, when he plays for the first time in 2015 in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, appearing in the tournament for the 19th time.

“I’ve thought about those situations and how I could handle them better,” said Furyk, whose last failure to close out a victory when holding the lead on Sunday came last July in the RBC Canadian Open. “Just put it behind me and try to use it to my advantage.

“I don’t need any motivation sitting tied for the lead in a big golf tournament. … No extra motivation needed.”

Throughout his victory drought, Furyk has played some of the most consistent golf of his career, with 11 finishes in the top 10 in 2014 and a total of 30 in the last four seasons.

Furyk also finished second last season in the Wells Fargo Championship and the Players Championship on consecutive weeks in May, and he tied for second in the Tour Championship, where he claimed his last victory five years ago.

“I think Canada probably was the worst, because I was in control of the tournament,” Furyk said of the event at Royal Montreal Golf Club last July, when even his 1-under-par 69 wasn’t enough to prevent him from losing to Tim Clark of South Africa by one stroke when he missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole.

“Starting Sunday, I was in control of the tournament all day and got chased down at the end. The other three seconds, you know, were good efforts — 65, 66 on Sunday at Wells Fargo and the Players.

“(In the Tour Championship), Billy (Horschel) was out ahead. I was trying to chase him down all day. I just couldn’t make enough birdies.”

Through it all, Furyk remains Mr. Nice Guy.

After each one of his failures, he never ducked out on the media, going into the interview room to answer the tough questions about how another one got away.

Fittingly, he will receive the 2015 ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award from the Golf Writers Association of America during Masters week at Augusta National in April for being consistently cooperative and accommodating to the media.

“I’ve never looked at it as tough or difficult,” Furyk said of dealing with the press. “I’ve always thought that we both have jobs to do. I feel like I have a responsibility to help portray (to golf fans) what they are seeing, and in order to do that, I can tell the media what I’m thinking.

“If we’re honest, it will work both ways. … Never ducked them before, won’t duck them now.”

Furyk didn’t even try to sneak past the media room after holding the lead on the 16th hole of the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco before hooking his drive into the trees and eventually finishing in a tie for fourth.

Regardless of what went on the past few years, Furyk is a winner, with 26 victories in his career including 16 on the PGA Tour — the biggest coming in the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields near Chicago.

That record has him on the doorstep of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Another year like 2010, when he captured the Transition Championship, the Verizon Heritage and the Tour Championship to claim the FedEx Cup, just might get him a bust alongside the best players in the game at St. Augustine, Fla.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve won, and it stings to finish second (over and over) again,” Furyk said late last year. “I feel good about my game. I’ve had a good stretch since the British Open, and I’ve had some good results. I’ve had a lot of confidence in my game.”

Sometime soon, this good guy figures to finish first again.

–Story courtesy of The Sports Xchange, TSX Golf Editor Tom LaMarre