Furyk makes sure he gets to course on time
September 3, 2010
NORTON, Mass. (AP)—Jim Furyk made sure he had two alarms to make his teetime Friday at the Deutsche Bank Championship, his cell phone and a wake-up callfrom the hotel.
Then the power went out.
Furyk now is famous for his cell phone going dead, causing him to oversleepand miss his pro-am time last week at The Barclays, which made him ineligible toplay the tournament. He dropped six spots to No. 9 in the FedEx Cup standings.
This time, there was no need to worry. He also had a third backup, with hiswife promising to call him to make sure he was up. What bothered Furyk about thepower going out was being unable to watch Ohio State’s football game.
“Right about kickoff time, the power went off at my hotel for about anhour,” Furyk said after opening with a 66. “And I’m staring at my phonethinking … ‘Do I need to save some battery?’ I can’t get a wake-up call and myphone is not working, so I was going to sleep. And I opened the drapes, becauseif it didn’t come back on, at least I’d see the sunlight.”’
The power came back on in an hour, he watched Ohio State win and he woke upon time Friday.
Then, Furyk said he had one of his best rounds striking the ball—and hisexperiment with the belly putter went just fine.
“I knew I was going to go with it unless something funky happened,” Furyksaid. “I think I’ve still got some particulars to work out. Overall, my speedwas very good. I was a little nervous about some of the longer putts, and I wasable to knock it up there close and get some good two-putts.”
He said he could have done better inside 10 feet, but he’s at the start ofthe learning curve.
“It’s the first day of the tournament, and I’ll get some experience withit,” Furyk said.
The best news of all? He tees off Saturday afternoon at the earliest and cansleep as long as he wants.
WORKING OVERTIME: Rain delays caused by Hurricane Earl can made it tough onTV.
For starters, NBC Sports golf producer Tommy Roy recorded the final hour ofmorning action Friday to have something to show in case there were delays in theafternoon. But it really gets sticky for Keith Blachly.
Blachly manages the technical aspect of NBC’s coverage. Because of high windanticipated overnight, Blachly and his staff have decided to tear down at theend of the day all the announcer booths and green bunting that shields thescaffolding. Plus, cameras that typically are left on the course will be broughtinto the broadcast compound.
Blachly will have to put everything back together and in position Saturdaymorning.
GLOVER’S DAY: Someone mentioned to Lucas Glover after he opened with a 70that if not for bad luck, there would be none at all.
Glover somehow managed a wry grin.
He was going along nicely at 3 under until his tee shot wound up in a divoton the 14th hole. That wouldn’t be a problem under lift, clean and place—except this was in the first cut of rough. Trying to dig out the shock, Gloversuffered a stinger in his right hand, and he was clenching it the rest of theround.
From the middle of the 15th fairway, his first iron shot after the stinger,he flinched before digging into the turf and caught only the top half of theball, sending it low and over the green for a bogey. On the par-5 18th, his ballwas headed for the bunker, meaning he would have to lay up. Instead, it found athick bush in the bunker, and he had to take a one-shot penalty to remove it. Hehit his next shot into the hazard and had to scramble for a bogey.
After signing his card, it only got worse.
An official with a clipboard broke the bad news—Glover had been selectedfor drug testing.
BEST BALL: The top three players in the FedEx Cup standings, playing in thesame group, combined to shoot 16-under par. Steve Stricker led the way with a66, and he said it’s easy for everyone in the group to feed off the good vibesfrom so many birdies.
No need telling that to the group of Zach Johnson, Jason Day and RyanPalmer. They combined to shoot 23-under par.
Asked if he had ever been in a group with such low scoring, Johnson thoughtback to his days on the mini-tours, “but it was not remotely on a golf courseof this magnitude.”
“I think we had some bogeys, too, so that was pretty impressive allaround,” Johnson said.
If they had played a better ball, the group score would have been 57. Theonly holes none of them birdied were Nos. 4, 6, 14 and 16.
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