Jim Furyk wins Verizon Heritage

Jim Furyk won the Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina, beating England’s Brian Davis at the first hole of a bizarre sudden-death playoff.

Jim Furyk

Jim Furyk won the Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina, beating England's Brian Davis at the first hole of a bizarre sudden-death playoff.

Playing with Furyk in the final round, the Englishman traded the lead with the American through the back nine. But, after bogeys at the 16th and 17th, Davis came to the 72nd hole trailing by one.

Davis fired a pin-point approach straight at the final flag and Furyk played safe, bailing out to the right of the green. The Englishman then rolled his birdie putt home leaving Furyk a testing four-foot putt to force extra holes. He duly sunk it and a playoff was required.

The pair returned to the 18th tee from where both found the fairway. Davis went first with his approach and lost it left. It ended on the beach alongside Calibogue Sound. Furyk sent his second long.

After Furyk had putted up reasonably close. Davis decided he had to take on the shot from amongst the reeds and grass in the hazard. He splashed out onto the green but immediately called over rules official Slugger White.

Davis felt he may have nudged a reed as he took his club back to play the shot and a quick look at the video replay confirmed this to be the case. Davis was penalised two strokes and he conceded the victory to Furyk.

"It was one of those things I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and I thought we'd check on TV and, indeed, there was movement," Davis said.

It was a strange finish to the tournament and Furyk was unsure how to react. "I want to react to the crowd and kind of wave and let them know, that 'Hey, I'm excited,' but I don't want it to take away from Brian," Furyk said. "It's obviously a tough loss for him and I respect and admire what he did."

Another Englishman Luke Donald finished tied for third with Bo Van Pelt.

Verizon Heritage Harbour Town Golf Links, South Carolina April 15-18, purse $5,700,000, par 71

1    Jim Furyk (USA)        67    68    67    69    271    $1,026,000 2    Brian Davis (Eng)        68    69    66    68    271    $615,600 T3    Luke Donald (Eng)    69    68    67    70    274    $330,600 T3    Bo Van Pelt (USA)    67    72    66    69    274    $330,600 T5    Ricky Barnes (USA)    69    69    66    71    275    $208,050 T5    Kris Blanks (USA)        70    68    69    68    275    $208,050 T5    Camilo Villegas (Col)    70    68    67    70    275    $208,050 T8    Stuart Appleby (Aus)    69    67    73    67    276    $159,600 T8    Rickie Fowler (USA)    68    72    69    67    276    $159,600 T8    Nick O'Hern (Aus)    69    72    64    71    276    $159,600 T8    Heath Slocum (USA)    70    67    67    72    276    $159,600

Note: Player scores in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?