JIM FURYK SAVES THE (PLAYOFFS) DAY

by Doug McAllister

And just like that the PGA Playoffs and the FedEx Cup are redeemed! At least for today.

As noted in my last post, I was more than a bit skeptical about how things might turn out this year. Fortunately the new guys fizzled and a tried and true tour veteran rightfully took his place at the pinnacle of this year's golf world.

But, aren't we supposed to welcome new greats to the game? Didn't Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Payne Stewart, Ernie Els and many, many others have to win their first BIG ONE somewhere and sometime?

Sure they did, but none of them did it by sneaking in the proverbial back door of the current "lottery loaded" PGA. The FedEx Cup, with its complicated points system and its unreasonable weighting of the final four events, is the latest in a long line of snotty and materialistic MARKETING-BASED programs, supposedly designed to bring golf to the forefront. It's all about money any more. Golf, the game, is secondary.

I had to laugh as during today's event one of the suits from FedEx was interviewed. Nothing but transparent business posturing! The guy probably wouldn't know a real golf ball if it hit him in the back of the head. All he could talk about — and I was absolutely amused at how unabashedly he laid it out there — was how the FedEx Cup was nothing more to the main sponsor than a pathetic marketing ploy. He said nothing about FedEx's dedication to promoting the good of the game. No! It was all about how the event and FedEx's participation therein was adding to the company's illegitimately bloated bottom line!

Even more telling were the interviews with the players. When each was asked whether they knew during the course of play where they stood in the points tally, each laughed off the system as being wildly complicated. How true! Each would have needed a statistician walking the course with them along with their caddy! In the end, the common statement by each was something like, "I came here to play the best golf I could and really didn't have time to be worried about where I stood in the points tally or calculating which shot would win things for me." Good for them!

And, what if Golf doesn't need to be brought to the forefront? What if Golf was just fine and dandy before everyone and their dog decided that the game was the latest chic fashion statement?

Which brings me back to Furyk's achievement. Here we have a golfer's golfer. No weirdo glamor or pretty-boy face that everyone is trying to get a piece of. Just a steely-eyed game designed to do what it did for Furyk this weekend and all through the year and Playoff series. Minus, of course, his being inappropriately and shamelessly disqualified at the Barclays. But that, my friends, is another discussion entirely.

Everything about Furyk seems to be...well...unattractive. Except for the results he achieves! And no apologies necessary! His hawkish looks. His gangling physique. And swing coaches have been commenting on his unorthodox swing since he hit the tour. You won't find him on glitzy ads for Gillette razors. You won't see him on billboards, wistfully staring off into space, stupidly contorting his wrist so you can't miss seeing his Tag Heuer watch! You won't see his face staring back at you from posters stumping this or that golf brand. As I said, no glamor. No glitz.

But that's what makes Jim Furyk so beautiful! His notoriety — what there is of it — comes from his performance on the greens and fairways of whatever event he is currently playing. Furyk plays golf because it's as much a part of him as his eyes or feet or elbows or heart!

Player of the year 2010? Unquestionably! If the honor goes to anyone else it will be a major injustice to Furyk and to the game.

Enough said! HELAS!