Furyk finds little consolation in another strong finish

No one played the final 36 holes of the U.S. Open better than Jim Furyk, who finished second for the second year in a row. He's proud of the way he battled Oakmont, but quickly stresses that he gets no pleasure out of near-misses.

By Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

OAKMONT, Pa. -- Jim Furyk owns both the aptitude and the attitude necessary to excel in the U.S. Open. He has the 2003 title to prove it.

He's suffered enough disappointment the last two years to make him wonder just what he has to do to win another.

For the second year in a row Furyk found himself the runner-up in America's national golf championship, making a valiant comeback on the back nine at arduous Oakmont Country Club only to come up one stroke short of the winner. With a closing even-par 70 and 6-over 286 total Sunday, Furyk finished in a tie for second with Tiger Woods as Argentina's Angel Cabrera powered his way to his first major title.

Last year at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., Geoff Ogilvy shot 285, while Furyk bogeyed the last for 286. This year he bogeyed the penultimate hole after valiantly clawing into a share of the lead.

The No. 3 player in the world gets no jolt of satisfaction from near-misses, even if effort merits pats on the back and kudos.

"No one likes consolation prizes," said Furyk, 37, who collected his second runner-up finish of the season and fifth finish or fifth or better in the Open. "I'm proud of the way I played, and I'm proud of those finishes. But, you know, a second is not that much fun, to be honest with you."

Asked how Winged Foot and Oakmont compare, Furyk replied, with noted sarcasm. "I don't know. They both stink."

Despite a balky driver that he double-crossed several times, including on the fateful 17th hole, Furyk still ranked second in driving accuracy for the week, and he rode that strength to a pair of 70s on the weekend, the lowest final 36-hole score among the 63 players who made the cut.

Beginning the day four behind leader Aaron Baddeley and tied with Cabrera at 6 over par, Furyk turned in even then fell four behind Cabrera with bogeys at 11 and 12. His fortunes looked bleak until his putter, a disappointment for much of the 2007 season (he ranks an uncharacteristic 60th in putting average on the PGA TOUR), got hot on Oakmont's famously fiery greens.

He birdied 13 from 15 feet and poured in a 12-footer for birdie at 14. At the long par-4 15th, playing 500 yards, he stiffed a 3-iron to 6 feet and nailed that one, too.

"I played well all day. I struck the ball well. I hit a lot of good putts," Furyk, a 12-time winner on the PGA TOUR, said. "I didn't do all that much wrong."

But for the second year in a row, a late error proved fatal. At the short par-4 17th, playing just over 300 yards, Furyk pulled his driver in the deep rough left of the green. "I was surprised by how far it went, and didn't realize from the tee box that I put myself into that poor a position," he said.

Short-sided, Furyk tried to gouge his ball out, didn't swing hard enough, and left it in the hay. His third a carried 20 feet past the hole and he failed to make the comeback attempt.

"I would stick by that play through and through with the wind conditions and the pin position," he said. "In my mind, I made the right decision."

With his record in the Open, Furyk obviously knows what he's doing on fast courses that test every skill set as well as a player's mental strength. Regardless of the venue, Furyk repeatedly hangs around the leaderboard, loitering like a cool teenager at a soda shop.

"No one enjoys getting their rear end kicked, but I feel good about my ability to get the ball in play and hit the ball straight and kind of gut it out," he said. "I think I've come to the U.S. Opens in the last five or six years in a good mind frame, knowing that the course is going to be really difficult, and there is not that many places where you can go out and shoot 72 or 73 and feel good about yourself; or shoot 75 like I did in the second round and know that you hadn't shot yourself out of the tournament.

"I do enjoy it. But, as I said, I don't have that much fun getting pounded and shooting 6 over par."

Especially when 5 over keeps winning.

"I had a lot of opportunities. It just didn't work out," he said.

Chances are, he'll have a few more opportunities before his career is over. Right now, however, there's little consolation in that.