PGA Tour Notebook: Furyk without answers as he's mired in big slump

Once the model of consistency even when he wasn't winning as much as he thought he should, Jim Furyk is now in the midst of his worst slump in 16 years. When he missed the cut at the AT&T National, it marked the first time since 1995 that he had gone four consecutive starts on the PGA Tour without making the cut.

"It's probably one of the worst stretches of my career ... where I'm struggling this much and missing cuts," Furyk said. "I don't really have a lot of answers. I know the problem areas, and I'm trying to fix them. At times, it feels better."

Furyk often says the three most important clubs in his bag are the driver, wedge and putting. He feels as though he is hitting good wedges. He doesn't miss many fairways, but says there usually is one drive per round that is way off line and leads to double bogey.

As for the putting?

"I'm not going to play better until I start gaining confidence with my putter and I start putting better," he said.

Furyk became so frustrated after the first round that he gave his putter to a young spectator.

"I've never done that before," he said. "But it was one happy kid."

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE: Bubba Watson had a rough time at the French Open, but another American with less fanfare couldn't stop raving about it. Texas Open winner Brendan Steele, who, like Watson, opened with a 74, wound up tied for seventh.

"Everything has been amazing," Steele said. "Fans were great. I thought they were enthusiastic, and there were a lot of them. I was very excited to play here, and it didn't disappoint."

Watson said it was not a "normal tournament," complaining about too many mobile phones and not enough security.

Steele said he was surprised to hear that.

"I don't know him very well, but that kind of caught me off guard," Steele said. "I'm sure it was probably more of a case of just getting him right off the golf course and not playing well and maybe he said some things. But it hasn't been my experience at all. It's been a fantastic week.

"I'm hoping that I get the opportunity to come back and play it. It's something that only Europe can provide. I don't think it's anything that I've seen in the States."

DIVOTS: Ben Curtis is no longer with Andy Sutton, the caddie he hired at Royal St. George's when he won the 2003 British Open. Sutton, who grew up in Kent, still returns home for the Open. He says he will be working for Aaron Baddeley. ... British bookmaker William Hill not only refunded all bets on Tiger Woods after he withdrew, it offered odds on whether he would return for the PGA Championship. The odds are 2-to-5 that he plays, 7-to-4 that he does not. ... The Women's British Open will make a donation to the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal for every birdie or better made by the field in the final round at Carnoustie. ... The PGA Championship will let fans bring mobile device onto the golf course to use in selected areas. They can take and make calls in designated spots, and text and email on the course.

STAT OF THE WEEK: The last time Trevor Immelman played Aronimink and Royal St. George's in the same year was 1997. He lost in the finals of the U.S. Junior Amateur and in the finals of the British Amateur.

FINAL WORD: "I remember a lot of things, most of them bad." -- Robert Allenby, on the last British Open held at Royal St. George's.