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Jim Furyk on Patrick Reed’s comments, rumored Johnson-Koepka fight

Published

6 years ago

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Speaking today with Golf Channel’s Tim Rosaforte, 2018 U.S. Team Ryder Cup Captain, Jim Furyk broke his silence on some of the rumors surrounding the fractious atmosphere among some of the U.S. players at Le Golf National.

Last week, Patrick Reed suggested that Jordan Spieth was the reason behind the breakup of their successful partnership on the course, while Reed’s wife and mother-in-law have both since criticized the pairings selected by Furyk last week in Paris. Today, however, Furyk claimed that Reed had been in the know regarding his pairing with Woods for “weeks in advance.” Reed, for his part, had said he was “blindsided” by the split.

“When I started looking at who (Tiger) would pair well with, I kept coming back to Patrick Reed. There was always the idea that we could go Tiger and JT (Justin Thomas), and Patrick and Jordan, but ultimately they knew going into the week, weeks in advance, they knew they would start the Ryder Cup with Patrick and Tiger being partners.”

Furyk also responded to claims over the fallout between good friends Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka following the heavy defeat suffered by the United States in Paris. Unlike others, Furyk didn’t refute that there had indeed been an altercation, but the 48-year-old insists that any incident that did occur was brief and insignificant.

“Whatever altercation started, or what happened, it was very brief. It was very short. Neither one of them really took anything out of it. They’re like brothers. Brothers may argue, brothers get into it. But they’re as close as they’ve ever been, and it really had no effect on either one of them.”

Reflecting on his team’s defeat in Paris, Furyk said that it has been “tough” for the last week and that the loss will “always bother me.” Despite the heavy defeat and the messy aftermath, the American re-iterated his belief in the 12 players that went to Paris with him, stating:

“I’d take those 12 players into the fire any day, on any course. And I still would. Last week didn’t work out the way we wanted, but I love those guys, and I love what we had together in the team room. And I’d do it all over again.”

What do you make of Jim Furyk’s comments?

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

20 Comments

20 Comments

  1. Gimmie Hendrix

    Oct 9, 2018 at 7:20 am

    Since when is “loving those guys” relevant to coaching victory. Americanism. You guys won’t touch that cup for 50 years, just watch.

    Reply Report comment

  2. Christopher Hansen

    Oct 8, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    If the US team only knows what it’s like to compete as individuals, it’s not surprising that they couldn’t create any synergy. Learning how to set your partner up as a ‘enabler’ role is a different mindset – and that means knowing what your partners need to succeed. If they all play their own game, that’s hardly a compromise or a recipe for success. Also, none of these guys are really good links style players, and most don’t have an abundance of playing overseas where conditions can be drastically different. Showing up 1 week in advance on an international travel commitment, and following a major and some intense FedEx cup tournaments is hardly what I’d call preparing for a major team event.

    Furyk is a straight shooter, and wants to win. He is one of the good guys.

    Granted Furyk doesn’t appear to have a huge pile of experience in overseas play or team-based play @ the elite Pro level, but that’s not what’s holding things back.

    What does EU do that USA doesn’t do? Maybe start there.

    I like Tiger as the Captain for his overseas playing experience, and Furyk as a team member.

    Drop Phil, he was a poor choice, and his ability to be successful in this format is questionable.

    Reed can partner up with whoever they want, but until these players figure out how to play to their partner’s strengths and weaknesses, it’s not going to result in a win.

    Lastly, US Tour players seem to have gotten used to plush courses with easier setups – presumably to boost low scores and generate tv ‘shock and awe’. No one who is serious about golf as a sport wants to see -22 on the leaderboard (and takes that seriously as the ultimate test of the field). We want to see the course eat up the players and really challenge them – closer to Par is expected, with some minor aggregates for 4 days of play. PGA could set these courses up a lot harder, if they chose to. maybe time to stop coddling the kids and cut the apron strings?

    Reply Report comment

  3. John

    Oct 8, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    At least it’s good to know that Reed doesn’t only use his mouth for eating doughnuts.

    Reply Report comment

  4. DaveyD

    Oct 8, 2018 at 3:33 pm

    You never lose your way if you stick to the high road.

    Reply Report comment

  5. Pru

    Oct 8, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    He should be POTUS at some point. He speaks well, and is a great liar.

    Reply Report comment

  6. Jim

    Oct 8, 2018 at 1:28 pm

    Not that it’s very important, but it would be interesting to hear the real truth about this Reed-Spieth thing. Reed keeps throwing Spieth under the bus, and “calling him out” for some unknown reason. At the same time, we read that Reed had been begging to play with Tiger. Though, after Reed’s ruling comment about Spieth a few months ago, I can see why Spieth might not have wanted to partner with him.

    Reply Report comment

  7. Rusty Carr

    Oct 8, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    To say you would not change a thing after the results you achieved cements the opinion that you do not deserve another chance to captain the team. The captain must shoulder the blame when the team results don’t come come close to the team potential. This petty bickering is no way to win and sets a bad example for future teams.

    Reply Report comment

  8. Tom

    Oct 8, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    Is that kiwi polish you using now?. Nice shine on the head!

    Reply Report comment

  9. Geoffrey Holland

    Oct 8, 2018 at 11:41 am

    Picking a guy with a 10-20-4 record to captain a Ryder Cup team was suicidal. Simply a bad decision no matter how good of a guy he is.

    Reply Report comment

    • Jamie

      Oct 8, 2018 at 3:06 pm

      What’s worse is that the Americans have been getting blasted at the RC for so long that one must ask if any of the 45+ YO veterans have a decent record.

      Reply Report comment

    • Jack Nash

      Oct 8, 2018 at 3:40 pm

      So was adding Woods and Mickelson. Combined 43 losses.

      Reply Report comment

  10. David Ross

    Oct 8, 2018 at 11:41 am

    I heard Koepka jumped over the fence and beat up Johnson’s caddy… wait… wrong sport

    Reply Report comment

  11. dixiedoc

    Oct 8, 2018 at 11:38 am

    We need to pick the players to win the Cup not players to enhance the viewership (Phil and Tiger). The players should also realize the old cliche that there is no I in team

    Reply Report comment

  12. Paul Vicaru

    Oct 8, 2018 at 11:18 am

    Jimmy has always been a straight shooter. You may not always agree with his message but the man has no hidden agenda. Just sorry it didn’t work out for him this year. He truly is one of the good guys

    Reply Report comment

    • Dan Konold

      Oct 8, 2018 at 12:22 pm

      Amen.

      Reply Report comment

    • geohogan

      Dec 21, 2018 at 5:04 pm

      Jim has character. Something Reed knows nothing about.

      Usa needs team players. Reed regardless of his standings should never be on another Ryder Cup, along with Phil and Tiger. Time for new blood.

      Brooks, “juice” Koepka should fly with Ernie “now lets fight” Els.
      Pay for view, anyone?

      Reply Report comment

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Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

Published

5 hours ago

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May 9, 2024

By

Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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Equipment

Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

Published

1 day ago

on

May 8, 2024

By

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

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Equipment

Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship

Published

1 day ago

on

May 8, 2024

By

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.

After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.

Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.

According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.

“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…

“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

 

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