Furyk named next US Ryder Cup captain

Jim Furyk was appointed Wednesday as the U.S. captain for the 2018 Ryder Cup in France, where his team will try to win on European soil for the first time in 25 years.

Furyk was a unanimous choice by the Ryder Cup committee last month. The former U.S. Open champion, and the only player in history to twice post PGA Tour rounds in the 50s, brings more playing experience than any other U.S. captain. Furyk played on nine consecutive teams starting in 1997, and he was an assistant captain to Davis Love III last year at Hazeltine.

Love will be one of his assistants in France.

“He’s going to be a very tough act to follow,” Furyk said from PGA of America headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens. “He put a system in place. He put the players behind it. It won’t make my task easier, but it makes it easier knowing there is a system in place. To have him by my side — his advice, his experience, two captaincies and one vice captaincy — is going to be priceless for me.”

The Americans reshaped their thinking after the 2014 loss at Gleneagles, where Phil Mickelson publicly questioned Tom Watson’s leadership and the lack of player involvement. That spawned a Ryder Cup Task Force that allowed for more input from the players, and now a Ryder Cup committee comprising three players (Mickelson, Love and Tiger Woods) and the top three PGA of America officials.

The committee met Dec. 6 and decided on Furyk, waiting until the start of the new year to announce him. PGA of America President Paul Levy said it took Furyk “one second” to accept.

Jordan Spieth and Brandt Snedeker were among players who thought it was the right choice and a logical one. Spieth referred to Furyk as a role model, and smiled when he added that Furyk would “embrace the idea of having an away game.”

The Americans haven’t won on the road since 1993 at The Belfry, when Love was a Ryder Cup rookie, Woods was in high school and Spieth was 2 months old.

“He’s got a lot of scar tissue in the Ryder Cup,” Spieth said, referring to five Ryder Cup losses Furyk endured in front of European fans. “I think it will be more fulfilling being there, having a chance to win over there. He can take the experience of all those Ryder Cups and throw that down the drain with a win.”

Furyk is 46 but still going strong on the PGA Tour. The Ryder Cup has not had a playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 at East Lake, and Furyk wasn’t ready to consider the prospect of playing in France even if he were to qualify.

“I don’t want to say no. My main focus and what I’m interested in now is as captain,” he said.

Furyk