David Duval and Jim Furyk reuniting on the PGA Tour Champions is just the next chapter of their long friendship.
Long before each won a major championship, they first met in Hilton Head, South Carolina, at an AJGA golf tournament when Duval was 15 years old and Furyk was a 6-foot 16-year-old. A few years later, the two would meet again, this time competing against each other in college and the relationship only grew from there.
In the early 1990s, while battling for a PGA Tour card on what was then known as the Nike Tour, they discovered that they made a good duo ahead of competition.
“We were gambling partners on Tuesday on what’s now the Korn Ferry Tour,” Furyk said Wednesday ahead of the PGA Tour Champions’ Chubb Classic. “We have a pretty [good] record, I will just say, and made a few bucks. He’s a heck of a partner. About three years after that, there was a couple veterans out there that tried to steal a little money from us, and three years later he was ranked in the top 10 in the world and I was ranked top 25 in the world, so they probably picked the wrong battle.
“But it was a lot of fun on Tuesday to gain some experience and play a lot of golf alongside him. We were always partners, so put a lot of practice rounds together on the tour, played a lot of practice rounds in majors together, and so I spent a lot of time with David. Really enjoy his company.”
Full-field tee times from the Chubb Classic
Duval remembers it the same.
“We certainly dipped into a few pockets on the Nike Tour, what is now the Korn Ferry Tour,” he said. “He and I were partners virtually every week. I don’t recall having to pay out too often.”
After their developmental days, the two had comparable PGA Tour careers. Each won on Tour over 10 times (Duval 13 times, Furyk 17), each won one major (Duval the ’01 Open and Furyk the ’03 U.S. Open) and both have sub-60 Tour rounds, however, Furyk has two. And despite their friendship, the competitive nature still comes out in both of them.
“David likes to brag that his (59) was 13 under and both of mine were 12 under,” Furyk said, “but mine was still one lower (58 at the 2016 Travelers) so we’re in a little competitive battle as good friends.”
And now that light-hearted battle moves to the senior circuit. Duval is playing competitively full-time for the first time in a decade and Furyk is in his second year on the tour. Though both are looking to edge each other out on the golf course, they’re excited to embark on a new journey together like it’s the ’90s.
“To have been knowing and playing and competing against somebody for 35, 36 years, and he and I are dear friends, our wives are dear friends, Tabitha and Susie, I just think that just the opportunity to kind of reconnect that way, especially in a competitive environment, is a true blessing that the Champions Tour provides,” Duval said.
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Spanish