Furyk’s gamble doesn’t pay off on 17th hole

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Jim Furyk was too strong for his own good.

Tied for the lead on the 17th tee, Furyk gambled that he could hit driver on the uphill par 4.

He was wrong.

Instead of a second U.S. Open title, he’s just second.

“No one likes consolation prizes,” the 2003 champion said. “I’m proud of the way I played, and I’m proud of those finishes. But you know, a second is not that much fun, to be honest with you.”

Finishes tied for second

Furyk and Tiger Woods finished at 6-over 286 for the tournament, one behind Angel Cabrera.

Furyk had played some of the best golf of anyone on the weekend. While everyone else was falling away, he was making a steady climb up the leaderboard with a pair of even-par 70s. When he rolled in a putt on 15 for his third straight birdie, it moved him to the top of the leaderboard and into a tie with Cabrera.

Hang on for three more holes, and he could force a playoff. Better yet, make a birdie or two, and he would be the U.S. Open champ in the city where he grew up.

“I played well all day,” he said. “I had a lot of opportunities. It just didn’t work out.”

And it’s all thanks to that 17th hole.

The tees were pushed up for Sunday’s final round, making the already short par 4 play at 306 yards. Furyk will never be mistaken for a big hitter, but even he could have — should have — played an iron or a 3-wood off the tee.

But he went ahead and pulled out the driver.

“I didn’t think I would hit the ball — I haven’t hit a ball anywhere within 20 yards of anywhere that one went,” he said. “I was shocked to see how far it went. At my length, I can hit the ball left of the green and it had an avenue up the center, and that’s where I wanted to go all week.

Carried too far

“The ball I hit today carried a lot further. I was surprised by how far it went, and didn’t realize from the tee box that I put myself in that poor of a position.”

Instead of having a clear shot to the green from the fairway, he was buried in thick, snarly rough on the short side of the green with no angle to the hole. The ball was down so deep, in fact, that Furyk’s pitch traveled a whopping 10 yards.

“I should have been able to dig it out,” he said. “I was playing away from the pin because I had no shot at it.”

Though the ball spun past from the pin, he had a chance to save par, but his 8-foot putt hit the lip and caromed off.

“The play I made was the play,” he said. “If I went back, I wouldn’t hit left of the green. But no, it was the play. I would stick by that play through and through with the way the wind conditions and the pin position was.”

Cabrera was already in the clubhouse, so Furyk had one final chance to catch him. He hit a nice drive into the 18th fairway, but his second shot had too much on it, too. It landed on the collar along the upper left edge, with the pin downhill and to the right.

Last chance at 18

His long birdie putt rolled tantalizingly close to the cup, and the cheers grew louder with every turn of the ball. But it didn’t break like he needed it to and ran about 6 feet below the hole.

“Getting that close and not being able to win the golf tournament, yeah, it stings a little,” Furyk said. “But I went down swinging.