Furyk’s boot room makes life even harder for Europe

JIM FURYK was the obvious, and only, choice to be the next American Ryder Cup captain in France next year.

With Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods helping to make the decision, and Steve Stricker nailed on to be skipper at Whistling Straits in his native Wisconsin in 2020, this was all very straightforward.

Now the Americans can focus on the hard part – winning the Ryder Cup on European soil for the first time in 25 years at Le Golf National.

Jim ticks all the boxes. He has vast experience, passion for the event, a Major win at the US Open in 2003 and his father, Mike, is a PGA club professional.

And having been a vice-captain to Love in the triumph at Hazeltine last October, Furyk’s step up provides an overdue sense of continuity to the American team.

That always used to be a great advantage for Europe. I helped Tony Jacklin before I became captain and, by and large, it has carried on in that manner, with future captains learning the ropes from the inside.

The US picked a captain, he did the job for two years then handed over the reins. The next man would start with a blank sheet of paper.

Here, Furyk immediately announced that Davis would be one of his vice-captains in Paris. That creates a “boot room” identity.

It will be the same ideas and the same thinking.

Furyk does have a modest playing record in the event, but the current players will look past that. They’ll view him as being an integral part of the winning formula from Hazeltine.

They will think of Jim as a fantastic competitor, who has been a great player on the PGA Tour for a long time.

As well as his US Open, he’s won nearly $70-million in prize money and last year shot a record 58 at the Travelers Championship.

I raised my eyebrows when he said that he could be a playing captain, as you can’t devote yourself 100% to the job like that.

But I’m certain that for the rest of this year, he’ll be concentrating hard on his own game. He will be competing as fiercely as ever and there’s no reason why he can’t win another tournament.

Overall, this feels like a new era for the Ryder Cup, which is great for the event.

I think back to 2006 at the K Club when I saw an American team with little appetite for a fight. They were deservedly hammered 18-9.

I don’t see that with this new generation, led by Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth. They were fed up of losing to Europe and wanted to do something about it.

Furyk is bound to bring a strong team over with him to Paris when you think of those two and other young stars, like Justin Thomas who won in Hawaii last weekend, and shot a 59 at the Sony Open last Thursday.

Thomas has already talked about making the team in 2018. If that is the attitude across the whole of the PGA Tour, Thomas Bjorn faces a tough task to win back the Ryder Cup.