Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk admits he did not give Tiger Woods a call to discuss his six captain’s picks in the 2024 United States Presidents Cup team.
PGA Tour legend Furyk, 54, gets his second bite at the US captaincy cherry this week having skippered the stars and ᵴtriƥes to a shocking 17.5-10.5 defeat at Le Golf National, Paris, in 2018.
But unlike that week in Paris six years ago, this is not the Ryder Cup against a feared European team on home soil.
This is a Presidents Cup where Team USA is expected to once again get the job done, even if it is away from home.
The bookies have USA at odds of 2/5.
In other words, if you put £5, you win £2.
The 15th edition of the biennial contest gets underway on Thursday at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Quebec, Canada.
Furyk is hoping his team will live up to its billing and, as expected, brush aside Mike Weir’s International team in Canada with ease.
An away win would mean Team USA has emerged victorious in every Presidents Cup since 2000.
You have to go all the way back to 1998 at Royal Melbourne in Australia for the last time the Internationals won the biennial contest outright.
They snuck a tied match when Woods and Ernie Els could not be separated in an epic playoff battle at Fancourt, South Africa, in 2003.
Furyk was forced to field a lot of questions about why he selected a heavily out-of-form Max Homa over the likes of Justin Thomas or Akshay Bhatia.
Many American fans thought either Bhatia or Thomas should have boarded the plane to Canada over Homa.
Even if Homa has taken 7.5 points from a possible 9 in the last two renewals of the Presidents Cup (2022) and Ryder Cup (2023).
Furyk’s six captain’s picks ended up being: Homa, Sahith Theegala, Keegan Bradley, Tony Finau, Brian Harman and Sam Burns.
In defence of picking Homa as one of his six wildcards in the 2024 US Presidents Cup team, Furyk spoke at length as to what he brings to his team.
“I definitely don’t want this to be about why one person was picked over another,” said Furyk.
“I don’t know if the right way to look at it is why this guy versus that guy. I look at Max’s attributes and look at how he’s played the last two years.
“Undefeated record in Charlotte, our best record last year in Rome, and I think then you go to a lot of the intangibles, as well, as far as — I guess when I say an emotional leader, I also look at kind of the glue, a guy that pulls the team room together.
“That doesn’t mean he’s the most popular. It just means it comes very natural to Max, whether it’s his social media presence, the way he interacts with fans, his take on things, all golf related.
“He has a way of drawing folks into him. He’s kind of the glue on a team, so ultimately that weighed into the situation.
“I think there are parts of his game that have been very strong statistically, even through a little bit of a rough break this summer, and I think we can utilize those in Royal Montreal and find a way to make him very productive.”
Furyk was then pressed on whether he sought the advice of 15-time major champion Woods over his six captain’s picks.
“No, I did not,” replied Furyk, winner of 17 PGA Tour titles including the 2003 US Open.
“Tiger and I have been friendly over the years, but I didn’t give him a call to talk about the picks at all.
“I think the last time that he was — correct me if I’m wrong. I think Australia is probably the last time he sat in as one of the captains, I believe.
“I’m sure Davis [Love III] leaned on him a little bit for Charlotte, but from afar.”
Woods is currently sidelined and not expected to return to competitive action until the PNC Championship with his son Charlie Woods just before Christmas.
The former World No.1 confirmed earlier this month that he underwent a sixth back surgery.
