Presidents Cup
'Go f--- yourself': Jim Furyk takes issue with reporter's question about Presidents Cup, is taking no prisoners
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Jim Furyk's not having it.
The captain for the American team at the upcoming Presidents Cup, which begins next week in Canada, has little to no interest in the event being "competitive." He wants to win. Badly. Any talk of the biennial event needing the International side to finally win for the first time since 1998 for the overal health of the event is, frankly, offensive to the former U.S. Open champ.
Golfweek's Adam Schupak broached this topic with Furyk at last week's Procore Championship, where the U.S. captain was on hand to host a dinner for members of his squad who were playing in Napa. Schupak, like many others in the media before him, implied that the event could use an upset.
"Really? You’re American,” Furyk said. "I do actually take offense at that. I don’t hate you but it’s a pretty shi–y thing to say."
To be fair, the International side has put together consecutive spirited efforts in the last two Presidents Cup, most notably at Royal Melbourne in Australia in 2019. Still, those efforts have resulted in losses, giving the continuing the American side's dominant 12-1-1 run since the event began in 1994. Perhaps the most dominant week of all came in 2017 at Liberty National, where Furyk, as assistant captain, was a part of a 19-11 rout that was never even that close. Furyk recalled a moment from early in that week when a high-ranking PGA Tour suit said "good luck, this week," which to him seemed disingenuous at the time.
"Just the way he said it, it was so back-handed. I said, ‘You know, I’m not exactly sure I know what that’s supposed to mean,'" Furyk said.
As the tour official explained, it meant exactly what Furyk thought - an International team win would help the event immensely. Furyk still gets heated thinking about it.
"Did you ever play anything in your entire life as a competitor?" he said. "Because I’d rather you not even say good luck than say it and not even mean it. Do you know how hard, how many hours, the captains work to try to win these matches? Do you know how hard and how much effort the players, how hard they take it when they don’t play well? I’ve seen grown men cry in the locker room because they’re upset and I’ve seen how much it means to them when they do play well. I know what you’re saying, but do you know how offended I am? He said, ‘Well, I’m sorry.’ I said, ‘No, you should know better.’"
With Schupak, though, Furyk used some spicier language.
"It’s not like I’m killing you right now, but f--- you. Go f--- yourself. You can quote me on that one," he said.
Safe to say that Furyk, who has been a part of five winning American Presidents Cup teams as a player and two more as an assistant captain, would like their overall record to read 13-1-1 at the end of next week.
