AROUND THE GREENS
Furyk always has had a grand time in Hawai'i
By Bill Kwon
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| Jim Furyk has won $1.78 million in PGA tournaments in Hawai'i, a 10th of his career earnings. Furyk won the Hawaiian Open at Waialae Country Club in 1996. As a winner of a major this year —the U.S. Open — he is playing in the Grand Slam of Golf on Kaua'i, starting tomorrow.
Advertiser library photo PGA Grand Slam of Golf WHAT: 22nd annual PGA Grand Slam of Golf WHEN: Tomorrow and Saturday, from 9 a.m. PRO-AM: Today, 10 a.m. WHERE: Po'ipu Bay Resort Course, Kaua'i (Par 72, 7,081 yards). Course record 61, Tiger Woods PURSE: $1,000,000 ($400,000 first prize). FIELD: Mike Weir (Masters champion), Jim Furyk (U.S. Open), Ben Curtis (British Open) and Shaun Micheel (PGA Championship) 2002 CHAMPION: Tiger Woods, who also won in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 FORMAT: Stroke Play ADMISSION: $40 for three-day season pass, $10 today, $20 tomorrow or Saturday. Children 17-under free with ticket-bearing adult. PARKING: Free, with shuttle service available on Po'ipu Bypass Road TV COVERAGE: TNT, 12:30-4 p.m. tomorrow and 1-4 p.m. Saturday RESTRICTIONS: Cameras and autographs permitted at Pro-Am only. No cell phones, pagers, signs, radios, ladders, folding chairs, coolers or pets. |
Just ask Tiger Woods. He won it every year since 1998 and still can't return to make it six in a row when this year's elite foursome tee it up tomorrow and Saturday at the Po'ipu Bay Golf Course on Kaua'i.
It won't be the same without Tiger but, then, he didn't win a major this year, while Mike Weir (Masters), Jim Furyk (U.S. Open), Ben Curtis (British Open) and Shaun Micheel (PGA Championship) did to make up a foursome of first-time major winners — the first time that has happened since 1969.
"I'm excited to be here like the other three guys," said Furyk. "It was an incredible year for me, and winning a major topped off a great year. I view this (the Grand Slam) as a bonus."
Whether Tiger's absence will make a difference in attendance remains to be seen. But Michael Castillo, Po'ipu Bay's director of golf, is confident that the gallery will see a lot of quality golf during the 36-hole chase for the $400,000 top prize.
"All four are quality players. To win a major, you've got to be," Castillo said. "They'll be very entertaining and friendly to the gallery. I think everyone's going to be surprised."
With the four playing the course for the first time, no one's going to have a "home" turf advantage as Woods did, judging by his record round of 11-under-par 61 last year.
However, if any of the four could have a little advantage, it would be Furyk, no stranger when it comes to winning in Hawai'i.
Furyk won the Mercedes Championships at Kapalua, Maui, in 2001, the United Airlines Hawaiian Open at the Waialae Country Club in 1996 after a three-hole playoff with Brad Faxon and nearly repeated the following year in losing in a four-hole playoff to Paul Stankowski.
In 1995, his second full year on the PGA Tour, Furyk won the Lincoln-Mercury Kapalua International, an unofficial event that paid $180,000. So he has won on Maui and O'ahu. Wasn't Kaua'i the last island that Kamehameha conquered, too?
No wonder after each of his victories here, Furyk keeps saying, "What's not to like about Hawai'i?" Furyk calls Maui "my favorite spot in the entire world" and bought a home there, overlooking the 18th hole on the Plantation Course.
You can't blame him. For Furyk, Hawai'i indeed has been paradise found.
He's the only golfer to have played in every Mercedes Championships since it moved to Hawai'i in 1999, posting a top-10 finish each year.
"That's a streak you want to keep going. It means I've been fortunate to win tournaments in consecutive years," Furyk said.
With his two victories this year, including the Buick Open, he will be making his sixth straight appearance in the 2004 Mercedes Championships and his 10th in a row at Waialae Country Club the following week in the Sony Open in Hawai'i.
Furyk first played at Waialae in his rookie year in 1994 and missed the 36-hole cut. But he has made every cut since then in the Hawaiian or Sony Open, winning in 1996 and finishing no worse than 33rd place.
All told, in 14 tournaments at Kapalua and Waialae, Furyk has earned $1,786,513 or nearly 1/10th of his official career money. Counting side money, including whatever he earns this weekend on Kaua'i, he's a $2 million man golfing in Hawai'i.
No two golf courses can be more dramatically different than Plantation and Waialae, and yet Furyk's ability to master both shows how complete a golfer he is.
"Kapalua is an unusual golf course. It's an interesting piece of land. If you put Waialae on that mountain, you can't play it," Furyk said.
Not one of the longest hitters on the tour, ranking 131st in driving distance at 281.3 yards this year, Furyk is fourth in driving accuracy and sixth in greens in regulation.
"Waialae is suited to my style. It's an old traditional course, tree-lined with a lot of cross wind. You need to work the ball," Furyk said.
In contrast, Plantation with its expansive fairways, gigantic greens and dramatic changes in elevation, still calls for working the ball. But there's a need to be creative, and Furyk has that game down as well.
"He can play in the wind and knows the Bermuda greens," said Castillo, admitting that Furyk should be the favorite. But he likes Weir "because he hits the ball solid."
Nor can Curtis and Micheel be ruled out, considering both beat Tiger to earn a spot in the PGA Grand Slam by remarkably making a major their first tour victory.
And all four are enjoying the week since arriving on Kaua'i, according to Castillo. Weir invited 13 of his buddies for a "just boys outing," and Micheel's sister, Shannon, will be getting married tonight at the host site, the Hyatt Regency Kaua'i.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
