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Report: Jim Furyk to be named U.S. captain for the 2018 Ryder Cup

January 09, 2017
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It's not official, but Jim Furyk might want to start brushing up on his French. According to The Telegraph, Furyk will be named the U.S. captain for the 2018 Ryder Cup some time this week.

Links Nation first reported Furyk would get the nod when France host its first Ryder Cup. Le Golf National, a club about 15 miles west of Paris, is the venue.

Furyk was a vice captain under Davis Love III at Hazeltine last fall during the U.S.'s 17-11 victory. It was Team USA's first win in the biennial event since 2008. He has also represented the U.S. nine times as a player in the event, narrowly missing out on a 10th consecutive appearance last fall. Furyk seemed poised to make the squad after finishing runner-up at the U.S. Open and becoming the first player to shoot 58 in a PGA Tour event, but a late-season swoon kept the 46-year-old from being one of Love's captain's picks.

Officials with the PGA of America would not comment about the selection ahead of their official announcement. Thomas Bjorn was named Europe's captain for 2018 last month.

Going with Furyk, long considered the favorite to replace Love, certainly wouldn't be a big surprise. His stint as a vice captain in 2016 is something the U.S. Ryder Cup Task Force said should be a requirement for future Ryder Cup captains. However, Golf Digest's Tim Rosaforte reported in December that Fred Couples, three times the winning captain in the Presidents Cup, was also under consideration.

"I hesitate to talk about it because our Ryder Cup Committee needs to decide who the best candidate is -- and I will support their decision,’’ Furyk said to Rosaforte at the time.

Apparently, the committee decided on Furyk, who is currently No. 37 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Last week, BookMaker.eu listed Furyk as a heavy favorite to be named captain. But the sportsbook took the bet off the board on Friday as reports Furyk had earned the job began to trickle out.