Jim Furyk admits to U.S. Ryder Cup team ‘issues’ — and makes a promise

Jim Furyk is happy to double-check the math. 

As much as it won’t change. 

Tuesday, at a “Year to Go” Ryder Cup press conference, the 2027 U.S. captain was reminded of the Americans’ struggles in alternate shot over the past four team events. Over the past two Ryder Cups, the Europeans are 13-3 in foursomes; over the past two Presidents Cups, the Internationals are 13-5.  

“Your man is spot on, by the way,” Furyk told the reporter. “I know those numbers very, very well. I’ve lived them the last four.”

But what about next year’s numbers?

Can Furyk trim the margin? Or even come out ahead? That’ll be determined at Adare Manor in Ireland next September. But Furyk did admit there were “issues” for the Americans in foursomes. He also made a promise. 

“I plan on making some changes,” Furyk said. “I would say, one, as captains, we need to do a better job, not only put the folks into good pairings in good positions, but I don’t think we are preparing for those matches in a proper way.

“And I will promise you, we will be prepared. I’m going to ask this team to do more than any other United States team has in the past. We’ll be prepared. We’ll be ready to go in that format, and hopefully we can showcase our talent. We have too much depth to have that poor record in alternate shot.”

The promise, of course, led to a natural follow-up:

What does extra prep look like?

Furyk said that would involve both on- and off-site work. 

“To absolutely be here at Adare Manor next summer would be first and foremost,” he said.

“But I think a lot of it is in preparation. It’s in the lead-up. It’s the veteran players taking the younger players under their wing. It’s looking at this not as a group of 12, but a Team USA, a larger group, a program that we can build for the future and leaning on some veterans to lead the way. We’ve got a number of really talented, young American players that are going to give them a run for a spot on this team. So it’s exciting for me as a captain and I’m looking forward to that process.”

What about Furyk himself? 

He is, after all, the person who will set the pairings. What will be his thinking? Stats first, then personality? Vice versa? Something else?

To him, it starts with the course. 

Then a “little bit of both” numbers and vibes. 

But the course first.  

“What’s it asking for, in both formats, whether it’s four-ball or foursomes, and then you start planning accordingly in that case,” Furyk said. “There’s a lot of different things you can do. …

“I like to surround myself — my style of leadership in that case is surrounding myself with the best folks. I love and I have a lot of trust in our analytics right now. I love and I have a lot of trust in [vice captains] Justin Leonard and Stewart Cink, and I’ve got a good team around me right now that we’ll continue to build on. I’ll gather information from all them and then make those difficult decisions with how we’re going to pair folks.”

Toward the end of the session, a reporter also noted “a silver lining”: singles play. Despite the foursomes struggles, the U.S. went 9.5-2.5 in singles at last month’s Presidents Cup on its way to winning, and it went 8.5-3.5 at last year’s Ryder Cup before falling short.

The fight, Furyk said, was good. 

But what preceded the final day of play wasn’t. 

“You have to look to the first four sessions in both events and realise, seven points down at Bethpage, you’re digging too deep of a hole,” Furyk said. “I don’t care how well you play on Sunday; three points down here at Medinah.

“And again we’ll go back to the glaring weaknesses, really, mostly in alternate shot. We did get beat in four-ball at Bethpage. But recently, the last four years, it’s been alternate shot. That’s our focus. But the team play, we need to do a better job. We need to get ourselves into Sunday in a lot better position, and that will be the focus, obviously, team golf.”

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