Jim Furyk a winner again, but still chasing that elusive Players title

 

There are 28 men who have won The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course.

 

There are 39 who have finished second or tied for second without having ever won the tournament. There are 32 who have finished third or tied for third, again without having won.

 

The list of also-rans in The Players includes nine who are in the World Golf Hall of Fame and 19 who have won major championships. Among them are Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, Payne Stewart, Padraig Harrington and Lee Trevino.

 

Here's the question: Based on their performance in the PGA Tour's major championship, who's the most accomplished at the Stadium Course, yet has never won a Players?

 

Going by a combination of top-five finishes, earnings and career stroke average, that player is Ponte Vedra Beach resident Jim Furyk, who was in the clubhouse at 12-under-par last year, needing Martin Kaymer to miss just one par putt attempt on the last three holes to earn a playoff spot Monday.

 

Kaymer made all three, and Furyk remains a footnote in Players history: very good over the balance of his career but still searching for the elusive title at the age of 44, with his 45th birthday coming two days after this year's final round.

 

"There are a handful of tournaments out there that I earmark, but I've never won," said Furyk, who broke a nearly five-year victory drought three weeks ago by winning the RBC Heritage. "I really like Riviera [site of the Northern Trust Open]. I've come so close at Colonial [site of the Crowne Plaza Invitational], and I love that course. But The Players is the event most near and dear to me, because I live there, and it's our flagship event. I just want to play well there."

 

And he has – just not well enough. Furyk has four top-5 finishes, the most at the Stadium Course of anyone who hasn't won the tournament. In addition to his second-place finish last year, he tied for fourth in 2003, for third in 2006 and for fifth in 2009. Furyk has made 15 of 19 cuts and two of the four times he missed the weekend, it was by one shot.

 

In the right place at the right time, Furyk's average 72-hole score of 9-under 279 in his four top-5 finishes would have won or earned a playoff spot in five tournaments since his rookie season in 1995.

 

Furyk also is seventh on the all-time Players money list with $2,656,670, the most of any player who hasn't won. He also has more earnings in The Players than five past champions still active on the PGA Tour: Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, K.J. Choi, Kaymer and Tim Clark.

 

Furyk ranks 14th among players eligible for this year's tournament in career stroke average at 71.87. But the 13 players ahead of him haven't come close to the 68 rounds he's played at the Stadium, with Luke Donald's 42 trips around the Stadium a distant second. Five other players ahead of Furyk in active career stroke average have played between eight rounds (the minimum to be listed) and 12.

 

Furyk is third among active players in Stadium Course rounds, trailing only Phil Mickelson (72) and Vijay Singh (70). But Furyk has a lower stroke average than either one.

 

Furyk isn't the only player who has come close at the Stadium. Singh, also a Ponte Vedra Beach resident, has earned more than $1.6 million and has four top-10 finishes at a course where he's taken out more dirt on the practice range than anyone. Zach Johnson, whose game seems tailor-made for the course, is third in stroke average (71.39) among players who have not won (with at least 16 rounds) and seventh in earnings for a non-winner ($1,495,413).

 

Lee Westwood has five top-10s. Luke Donald is fourth in earnings with more than $1.8 million, and Ernie Els has four top-10s.

 

And by virtue of his victory in the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, 57-year-old Bernhard Langer will get another crack at The Players, which would be his first appearance since 2008 – when he tied for 15th. He is tied with Westwood for the most top-10s among active players on this year's eligibility list and has made nearly $1.5 million at The Players.

 

Furyk put an asterisk on his top-five finishes, pointing out that last year was the only time he had a serious chance of winning. He finished seven shots behind Davis Love III in 2003, nine behind Stephen Ames in 2006 and six back of Henrik Stenson in 2009.

 

While the Stadium Course sets up well for Furyk's accuracy off the tee and solid short game, he said he has had to combat the angular sight lines off most of the tees created by architect Pete Dye.

 

"It's a place where I've never been comfortable," Furyk said. "I know how to play it, how to get around and the course actually suits my style. But there's an awkward look to it, which is Pete's trademark. If heard me say that, he'd have a big smile on his face."

 

Furyk said he's not the type of person to agonize over not winning a Players.

 

"It's nice to do well, but do I let it bother me? No. That's not my personality," he said. ___

 

This article was written by Garry Smits from The Florida Times-Union and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.