Furyk’s message to US Presidents Cup Team: “Go out there and be the Alpha”
Captaining the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup team is a tall task, and Jim Furyk has done both. Certainly, he learned from the 2018 Ryder Cup experience and put those lessons to work in 2024 for the Presidents Cup.
By Kathlene Bissell | Oct 5, 2024
Jim Furyk, Justin Trudeau – 2024 Presidents Cup
Jim Furyk, Justin Trudeau – 2024 Presidents Cup / Minas Panagiotakis/GettyImages
Furyk created surprising new partnerships utilizing assistance from the stats team. He consulted his players. He made an effort to take care of everyone who was supporting the team, including wives, girlfriends, and caddies.
According to Furyk at the Constellation Furyk & Friends tournament, his messaging to the team changed as the week unfolded, beginning Thursday, when the U.S. went 5-0 against the International squad. That big an advantage seemed outsized, even for the difference in world ranking of the U.S. team members compared to the International squad.
“I think the message on Thursday night was — and we had some guys step up, hey, high fives and hugs are great — but this isn’t over,” he said about the dominant start.
It was then that he pointed out the team had played for just one-sixth of the available points.
There were four sessions remaining at the 2024 Presidents Cup
“We knew they would come out fighting the next day, scratching and clawing. They had to. They put it on us on Friday,” he noted about the 0-5 drilling they experienced.
“The message there is okay, you know what? We got thumped today. We got beat. But it’s still 5-5,” he told the team. “It’s time to turn the momentum. The fans are going to be loud, cheering for them.”
Furyk said the players, captain, and assistants locked themselves in a room and talked through what they saw on the course that day.
“Leaders stepped up and had some great messaging,” he said. “For me, talking to my assistants, it was hey, today is over with. Let’s talk through it and figure out what happened out there today.”
The problem to be solved was what do we need to do tomorrow. He wanted the team to demonstrate some dominance.
According to Furyk the bus ride back to the hotel was very quiet on Friday after they’d lost that second-day session 0-5. Not only that, they were up at 3:15 AM to be on the bus at 4:15 the next day.
“The guys looked determined. I mean, just the looks on their faces getting off that bus at the golf course, I really felt like we were going to have a good day,” Furyk added.
He felt they had left behind what had happened on Friday and that they were “super focused” on being successful on Saturday.
“Go out there and be the Alpha and set the tone early,” he said to them.
The key both days, Saturday and Sunday, was the way the U.S. team handled the back nine of the course.
“That’s kind of where Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup is won, on the back nine, late holes,” he explained.
Royal Montreal, Furyk said, has a lot of water that comes into play on the back nine, particularly 14 through 18.
“What our team did well is won key holes and key matches and did a lot of that work on the back nine,” he said. “That 3-1 start Saturday morning was key. And then all the matches in the afternoon were important.”
The pairings that surprised most golf fans and most golf experts were arranged well in advance, like breaking up Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.
“I think we had those pretty early, before we got to Montreal. You make sure the personalities worked out. Make sure the guys were comfortable,” he said. “I think I only broke up one pairing from Saturday. Sam Burns and Colin Morikawa were a pairing that didn’t play on Friday in alternate shot but played Saturday.”
The goal was to leave Saturday with at least a two-point lead.
“That’s a big difference, two-point lead going into Sunday versus a three is huge,” he insisted. “Four is even bigger. That was a very key moment in the matches. I think it gave our team a big boost.”
Both captains had their pairings practice together well in advance of the Presidents Cup.
“My guys, they just were tough down the stretch,” he noted. “A putt here and a putt there in those matches totally changes the scores significantly than what it looked like.”
Whatever Furyk and his assistants told the players in addition to what he said at the Constellation Furyk & Friends still remains between them, and that’s as it should be.
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