If someone was going to shoot a low score early Friday amid breezy conditions in Round 2 of the U.S. Senior Open, likely it would be someone like Jim Furyk, who hits a lot of fairways and knows how to be patient in USGA championships.
As it turned out, it was Furyk who went low, posting a 6-under-par 64 at Omaha Country Club to rocket right up the leader board and put himself in prime position midway through the 41st U.S. Senior Open. On the heels of a disappointing 72 to open the championship on Thursday, Furyk submitted a round of must-have execution in winds that Fred Couples described as “howling,” and signed for a score that was five shots better than anyone else in the morning wave of the 156-player field.
Other than Marcus Meloan, who shot 69, Furyk, a Pennsylvania native and Florida resident, was the only man to break par. When he holed an uphill 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for the satisfying finishing touch to a round that did not include a bogey, Furyk had scored more than 10 strokes better than the field scoring average, which was slightly more than 74.
“I was able to see some putts go in, and I hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens today, kept the ball in good places,” said Furyk, the winner of the 2003 U.S. Open who is bidding to become the eighth man to capture the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open, joining the likes of players named Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Hale Irwin. “When I missed it, I missed it in the right spots for the most part, outside of No. 3, and there I made a 30-footer. Just really kind of got on a roll and got some momentum.”
Furyk hit 12 of 13 fairways on the hilly Nebraska layout, and that helped him find 15 greens in regulation. His 27 putts numbered five fewer than his opening round when he suffered four bogeys. Quite an improvement all the way around.
And it could have been better, he said, claiming he left a few strokes out there. A man who has shot 59 and 58 on the PGA Tour probably would know about letting a few strokes go, no?
His day really started trending in a positive way after that aforementioned 30-footer for par at the par-4 third hole after he missed on a legitimate birdie try at No. 2.
“That was a very uplifting key moment in the day,” said Furyk, 51. “I shoot a couple over yesterday, kind of played from behind the eight-ball most of that back nine, and then to go out there and have that putt go in was a little bit of a sigh of relief. And then ripped off a bunch of birdies. I birdied three of the next four and then got it back to under par for the tournament.
“Then you're kind of playing with house money; you can relax a little bit and just think fairways and greens,” he added. “Nice to finish that way on a good note, but either way it was a good solid round.”
Nice that he could just play his game. Which is exactly what he’d like to do this weekend. No sense straying from your comfort zone. Never a long hitter, Furyk doesn’t rank above the top 100 in driving distance this week, averaging just 252.3 yards off the tee.
The scoreboard doesn’t care. His scorecard didn’t notice.
“I guess trying to build on what I did today, as far as not necessarily the score, but I felt like I made a couple loose swings yesterday,” Furyk said of his mindset as he seeks his third win since turning 50. “I was real happy with being patient. I didn't go out there and kind of chase the shots that I lost on 16, 17, and 18. I bided my time and shot even par on that second side and was patient. Today things kind of happened for me, but I had an idea what I wanted to do with my golf swing, and the shots I thought were necessary for this course, and it worked out.”
“So just kind of building on that, not necessarily building on the score, but building on the game plan I have.”
Dave Shedloski is an Ohio-based writer who frequently contributes to USGA websites.
