Furyk wins RBC Heritage in playoff over Kisner
The putter was flipped to the ground before the ball even reached the hole, and Jim Furyk erupted with a fiery fist pump and scream in exultation.
“That was 4 ½ years of frustration right there,” Furyk said.
After 55 months of close calls, near misses and blown leads, Furyk finally captured his 17th PGA Tour victory Sunday.
He shot an 8-under-par 63 in the final round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, then defeated Kevin Kisner of Aiken on the second hole of a playoff with a 12-foot birdie putt after both players made birdies on the first playoff hole.
“I put myself in position a lot and sometimes it was something that I did and sometimes someone would do something great to beat me,” Furyk said. “… I had to talk about it a lot over those years. And I think that dropping the putt and getting excited on [hole] 17 there was a lot of pent‑up frustration.”
Kisner shot a final-round 64 that included a 7-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to tie Furyk at 18-under 266 and force a playoff that was played on the par-4 18th and par-3 17th holes.
In the playoff, both players had less than 170 yards to the 18th flag after their drives and made birdies – Kisner with a 17-foot putt and Furyk with a 7-footer. On the 177-yard 17th, Kisner missed a 23-foot birdie putt about 3 inches above the cup and Furyk drained a 12-footer for the long-awaited win.
Furyk’s last win at the 2010 Tour Championship was one of three that year to account for his best season as a pro. More than four years of strong play without the ultimate payoff followed.
Furyk had failed to convert outright or shared 54-hole leads into wins on nine consecutive occasions from 2011-14, and that statistic suggests only a fraction of the story about his wearying inability to close out tournaments.
He led the 2013 PGA Championship after 54 holes but bogeyed the final two holes and lost to Jason Dufner by two. He had a one-shot lead in the 2012 U.S. Open with six holes to play but bogeyed three of his final six holes.
He led the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational open by a shot while standing in the middle of the 18th fairway off the tee and made double bogey.
He lost a three-stroke lead in the final round of the 2014 RBC Canadian Open, and had a 54-hole lead at Pebble Beach in February.
“I’m definitely good at hiding [emotion], but I was frustrated,” Furyk said “… I was starting to feel like this game is beating me up, and the losing hurts a lot more than winning feels good. I was starting to believe that. I think I just forget how good a win feels.”
Time isn’t necessarily running out on Furyk, but he turns 45 in three weeks and is the second-oldest winner in tournament history behind 48-year-old Hale Irwin in 1994. He said he never doubted he’d win again.
“I've had too many close calls and been in position too many times for me to believe that it wouldn't happen,” Furyk said. “I won't say that doubt crept in, but in my heart I really believed I'd win a tournament.”
Furyk came from four strokes off the 54-hole lead Sunday of Troy Merritt, who shot a 69 to finish third, and Kisner was three back to start the final round, which was moved up to the morning and early afternoon to avoid predicted thunderstorms later in the day.
Furyk’s 63 was the best final round by a champion in tournament history.
He birdied holes 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 to make the turn with a 30 and the outright lead at 16 under. The putt on the eighth hole was 48 feet.
“I was chuckling at that one, because I made a bunch of putts, and to have a 40‑plus‑footer go in was kind of fun,” Furyk said. “When I made a bomb on 8 I started thinking that this might be the day. It might be the time we get in the winner's circle.”
He dropped back into a tie for the lead with a bogey on the 11th with a three-putt from 60 feet. He then birdied three of the next four holes with putts of 4, 7 and 15 feet to reach 18 under and open up a two-shot lead, and made pars on the final three holes to force Kisner to make a late birdie to tie.
Furyk said he made a posture and swing setup change after his bogey on the 11th and began to strike the ball more purely. He relied on his putter and a few breaks early in the round.
His drive on the par-5 second hole hit a tree and dropped just 150 yards off the tee, but his third shot over a tree stopped 2 feet from the hole for birdie. His drive on the par-4 third hole hit a tree and kicked into the fairway, he holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the fourth and hit a tree with his drive on the fifth that kept his ball from reaching water.
“The first five holes I really didn't play that well,” Furyk said. “I really got some good breaks early, and then the putter really just stayed hot.”
Because of the chance of rain and possibly soggy conditions, players were allowed to pick up their ball in fairways, clean it and re-place it, which aided in the scoring.
Kisner, who was seeking his first PGA Tour win in his 90th start and was bidding to be the first resident or native of South Carolina to win the Heritage, began the final round three shots out of the lead.
He chipped in for eagle from 25 feet behind the second green to grab a share of the lead and made birdie putts of 15 and 10 feet on the fifth and sixth holes to reach 15 under. But Furyk’s four consecutive bogeys on holes 6-9 kept Kisner chasing for the rest of the day.
“Every time I looked up on the back nine Jim was making another birdie,” Kisner said. “You had to kind of keep the gas pedal down.”
Kisner added birdie putts of 6 feet on the tough par-3 14th and 15 feet on the par-5 15th, and a clutch 9-iron from 167 yards to 7 feet for birdie on the 18th to close out his bogey-free round.
“The way I played 18 both times, I mean that's just what you dream about, and that's what I’ve worked so hard for,” Kisner said. “I hit every shot just like I wanted to coming down the stretch, and that's all you could ever ask for.”
The odds may have been with Kisner in the playoff considering Furyk’s PGA Tour playoff record was 3-8 despite winning his most recent one in the 2010 Heritage.
“My playoff record, I can sum up and say it sucks,” said Furyk, who was 10 under and made 11 birdies on the 20 holes he played Sunday and earned $1.062 million of the $5.9 million purse.
Furyk went exactly 100 tournaments between wins. “Just winning golf tournaments is what gets me out of bed in the morning,” he said. “It's why I still want to compete and play, is to wake up on Sunday with a chance.”
It was fitting the Furyk ended his winless stretch at Harbour Town, where he has played 17 times since 1995, including the past 11 years, and has eight top-10 finishes including two wins and two runner-up finishes.
“I can't think of a more fitting place to kind of break that streak and get another win under my belt,” Furyk said. “This is my favorite event. I love being here. And outside of winning another major championship, this is the perfect place to do it.”
Contact ALAN BLONDIN at 626-0284 or on Twitter @alanblondin, or read his blog Green Reading at myrtlebeachonline.com
This story was originally published April 19, 2015 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Furyk wins RBC Heritage in playoff over Kisner."