Furyk's injury could benefit Americans
Injured Jim Furyk is a doubt for his fourball match today at the Presidents Cup, which may turn out to be good news for the American team.
Furyk has been paired with Tiger Woods to play Internationals Stuart Appleby and Mark Hensby, but if Furyk is unavailable, Woods will play a singles match against either Appleby or Hensby.
And given Woods’ shabby fourball record in the Presidents Cup – he has lost all six of his previous matches – he would probably rather play alone at the Robert Trent Jones Club.
Furyk is suffering a rib injury and will receive treatment this morning before making a decision whether to play, but he will not start if he is not sure he can complete the entire round, because that would be a disaster for his team.
If he had to pull out during the round, Woods would be left to play alone against two opponents the rest of the way.
Furyk strained rib muscles during last week’s event and the injury flared up on the first hole yesterday. Though he and US team-mate Fred Funk halved their match with Vijay Singh and Hensby, Furyk was in considerable pain.
“I knew heading (to the first hole) I was in quite a bit of pain and it was going to be a struggle,” he said. “I made it through four holes before calling for a physiotherapist. If he had not come out, I would not have made it through the whole round, but he worked on me and kept me going.
“The muscles spasmed quite a few times. Hopefully it will calm down, I will have a good warm-up session and be ready to go.”
Nicklaus said Furyk had not been in much pain hitting the ball, but had endured a “horrible” time walking.
Under the circumstances, Furyk was not too unhappy to halve his match.
“I am sure they felt they should have won and we felt we should have won,” Furyk said. “A half-point feels like a disappointment, but I have been on the losing end enough times and I know how disappointing that feels.”
