Constellation Furyk and Friends Packed with Powerhouse Names
Jim and Tabitha Furyk have friends in high places. You can tell that by the players who have committed to the Constellation Furyk and Friends PGA Tour Champions event being played this week in Jacksonville, Florida.
The roster includes Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and Ryder Cup captains Steve Stricker and Padraig Harrington. There are multiple major champs like Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, John Daly, Bernard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Lee Janzen and Vijay Singh. Still more have a single major like Davis Love III, Darren Clarke, David Toms, Jeff Sluman, Corey Pavin, Larry Mize, Mark Calcavecchia and Mike Weir. And there are past Players champs Fred Funk and K.J.Choi as well as European legend Colin Montgomerie.
It’s impossible to count their majors on two hands. You have to bring in toes and maybe even bring a friend’s digits. If you add Champions Tour majors, bring in a foursome or so. And that’s not even including the host, 2003 U.S. Open and 2021 Senior Open winner, Jim Furyk.
If you want to tally their tournament titles, get a calculator. It’s massive triple digits.
If you think it’s easy to gather this group of golfers together for a tournament, try doing it. You have to offer a lot and this tournament does it.
How cool is this event going to be? They even have Jack and Barbara Nicklaus attending their champions breakfast on Friday.
If you want to tally their tournament titles, get a calculator.
While these golfers are coming to Jacksonville, Florida, out of their regard for the Furyks, they are also coming for the golf course, Timuquana Country Club, an historic Donald Ross design from the 1920s, renovated by Bobby Weed in the mid-1990s, and recently tweaked by Bruce Hepner who formerly worked for Tom Doak.
Furyk expects them to like the design. It is unlikely the course will disappoint. Timuquana also hosted the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2002. Having a regular PGA Tour Champions event will only add to its prestige.
There are some other benefits to playing an historic course. One of them is course length. As Furyk has said about aging up to the PGA Tour Champions circuit, he can potentially use a wedge or 9-iron into the green from time to time. Timuquana is at 6949 yards compared to PGA Tour courses that are now stretching 7400-7500 yards. He needs a 3-iron or 4-iron for those.
If Timuquana rings a bell with you, but you can’t remember why, it’s probably the David Duval-Bob Duval connection. Bob was the head professional at Timuquana for many years and then joined the PGA Tour Champions for a while. His son David Duval is better known and even displaced Tiger Woods as the No.1 player in the world in 1999. Duval is a winner of the British Open and The Players. Unfortunately, he won’t turn 50 until after the tournament. But there’s always next year. It’s likely many players and fans will look forward to it.