When Thomas Bjørn and Jim Furyk competed in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama they were both making their debuts in the biennial teams competition. They did not face each other in that match, and never have since, but in 2018 things will change – radically – as they become opposing captains for Europe and the US.
Furyk will bring more experience to the 2018 competition, having played on nine consecutive teams starting in 1997 and serving as assistant captain to Davis Love III last year at Hazeltine. Denmark’s Bjørn (who was named as European captain in December) only went on to compete in the 2002 and 2014 Ryder Cups, although he has also served as a vice captain of the European team.
According to Furyk, speaking after his appointment was officially announced this week, he and Bjorn walked one match together at Hazeltine and talked about the future, including the prospect of both being captain.
A unanimous choice by the Ryder Cup committee, 46-year-old Furyk will be trying to lead his team to its first win on European soil in 25 years, when the Cup is played at Le Golf National in Paris.
The 2003 US Open champion, he is the only player in history to twice post rounds in the 50s: a US PGA Tour record last August with a 58 in the final round of the Travelers Championship; and a 59 at the 2013 BMW Championship.
Love will be one of his assistants in France. "He's going to be a very tough act to follow," Furyk said from PGA of America headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. "He put a system in place. He put the players behind it. It won't make my task easier, but it makes it easier knowing there is a system in place. To have him by my side – his advice, his experience, two captaincies and one vice captaincy – is going to be priceless for me."
Reporting the appointment, the PGA Tour said, “The Americans reshaped their thinking after the 2014 loss at Gleneagles, where Phil Mickelson publicly questioned Tom Watson's leadership and the lack of player involvement. That spawned a Ryder Cup task force that allowed for more input from the players, and now a Ryder Cup committee comprising three players (Mickelson, Love and Tiger Woods) and the top three PGA of America officials.
Part of that model was to allow for more consistency at each Ryder Cup, such as captains previously serving as assistants.”
The committee met on 6 December and decided on Furyk, but waited until the start of the new year to announce their choice. PGA of America president Paul Levy said it took Furyk "one second" to accept the job.
Furyk is comfortably in the top-50 of the world rankings and had a chance to make his 10th straight team in 2016 except that he missed the first four months of the year recovering from wrist surgery.
The Ryder Cup has not had a playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 at East Lake, and Furyk wasn't ready to consider the prospects of playing in France even if he were to qualify for the team. "I don't want to say 'no.' My main focus and what I'm interested in now is a captain," he said. "Worrying about point and where my game is is putting the cart before the horse, in my opinion. My main goal is being the best captain I can, getting the best 12 players and providing an atmosphere to let them succeed."
