Re-adapted Furyk ready for Birkdale challenge
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American Jim Furyk has admitted that it has taken him some time to re-adapt to links style golf, ahead of the 137th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
The 2003 US Open champions has finished second twice at the Open, first at Birkdale in 1998 and then again at Hoylake in 2006, but he has also missed the cut on more than one occasion.
“When I first came on Tour I hit the ball pretty low and I was very comfortable in the wind. Then in order to compete in the US I worked on hitting the ball higher.
“And when I tried to come back, I had a hard time adapting. I didn’t come back and a good player should be able to play in all conditions.
“After missing four or five cuts in a row I really committed myself at Liverpool (2006) to really working on trying to fit my game to the style of golf course and got a club or two in my game that I could fly it a little better.
“It’s in between a 3-wood and a 3-iron, a nice hybrid that I could hit about 10 feet high and run it down those fairways.”
Furyk starts his Open challenge alongside local hero Nick Dougherty and Colombian Camilo Villegas. The trio tee off at 1247 on Thursday.
* Picture by Getty Images
