Jim Furyk is an uninspired choice to be Team USA’s 2027 Ryder Cup captain.
This was the moment for the PGA of America to recognize they must change its ways to compete with the Europeans at the Ryder Cup. Luke Donald’s Europe is going for its third-straight victory at Adare Manor, and the Americans were embarrassed in New York last year.
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But instead of taking this opportunity to usher in a new era for Team USA in the Ryder Cup, they went back to the old guard. Jim Furyk will be their captain for the second time, after his disastrous 17.5-10.5 loss at Le Golf National in 2018.
Furyk has been a fixture of Team USA since 1997. He was a player in every Ryder Cup from 97 to 2014, and has been a vice captain or captain every year since but 2023. And his record at the event proves why the PGA of America needed to go in a totally different direction.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
Jim Furyk’s terrible Ryder Cup record
Few have represented Team USA more than Jim Furyk, but this has been through the worst period of the team’s Ryder Cup history.
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As a player, his Ryder Cup record is 10-20-4, having won half as much as he’s lost. Furyk lost alongside Tiger Woods twice in 2008, and had an absolutely terrible record in four balls, going 2-9-0 over his nine events.
Team USA’s record with Furyk playing is 2-7, with wins in 1999 and 2008. He lost twice in the states and was part of Team USA’s collapse in Medinah in 2012, losing to Garcia on Sunday.
And he didn’t have much more success as captain, losing by seven points to the Europeans in France. No one better represents the failures of the Americans at the Ryder Cup more than Furyk, but he’s the man leading them into battle in Ireland next year.
Team USA proved they have learned nothing with Jim Furyk selection
Team USA rolled the dice last year with Keegan Bradley, and it blew up in their face. He clearly wasn’t prepared for the role, spending the months leading up to Bethpage trying to qualify for the team, and it showed when Europe dominated the team events.
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So with Furyk, they’ve played it safe. The PGA of America has a known quantity in the 55-year-old. But unfortunately, what they know, is that he’ll lose.
They have shown an unwillingness to move away from the old boys club after they were bitten by a fresh face last year. But they have learned the wrong lessons from New York.
While Bradley was a bold, new choice, that wasn’t the reason they lost. They were stuck in their ways, refusing to embrace analytics like Europe has, and needed to completely revamp their processes.
Instead, they have picked someone with battle scars from Ryder Cups of years past, and a man who showed a complete disregard for the analytical approach in 2018. Maybe he’s learned, but the PGA of America proved that they have not.
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