First, Jim Furyk heard endless questions about his wrist. Next, he was asked about the state of his game and where the form that won him a major championship in 2003 went. He also heard about that victory drought, especially after his collapse last weekend. He has an answer for everyone now. An emphatic one at that.
"I had half a dozen people telling me Tiger's coming to get me," Furyk said. "It was funny more than anything else because I wanted to say, 'Yeah, I know. I can read the scoreboards, too.'"
Furyk showed grit and game in winning the Western Open on Sunday, blunting a charge from Tiger Woods with three straight birdies. Furyk finished with a 69 to beat the world's best player by two strokes and earn his 10th career win on the PGA Tour, his first since the 2003 Buick Open.
"I've tried not to get too frustrated, but I've answered a lot of questions about my wrist in the last year or so," said Furyk, who was 14-under 270 for the tournament. "Once we got over that hump, then it came down to, `Hey, it's been almost two years since you've won.'
"You take the combination of last week, the surgery, not winning since surgery _ you put all that together and it was an emotional win," he said. "I'm trying to say that I'm healthy, I'm fit and I feel like my game is as good as it's ever been."
Few can argue after this performance.
Furyk arrived at Cog Hill after a disheartening loss at the Barclays Classic, where he blew a three-stroke lead with five holes to go. Padraig Harrington then holed a big-breaking 65-foot putt on 18 for an eagle and the one-stroke win.
Though Furyk was at or near the top of the leaderboard all week, he got off to a rocky start Sunday, making bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3 to fall four strokes behind playing partner and third-round co-leader Ben Curtis.
"I was thrown for a little loop early being four down so quick," Furyk admitted. "I was thinking, `What happened?'"
Furyk worked his way back quickly, moving back into a tie at 12-under by the sixth hole.
But just as he was finding his groove, Woods was making a move.
Beginning the day five strokes behind Furyk and Curtis, Woods surged into the lead with birdie-birdie-eagle on Nos. 9-11. He hit huge drives on Nos. 9 and 10 _ 305 and 354 yards, respectively _ then put together the hole of the day on the par-5 11th.
He pushed his tee shot right and was muttering as soon as the ball left his club. But he got a lucky bounce. Two of them, actually. The ball hit the cart path and bounced back toward the fairway. He was on the green with his second shot, though it was 54 feet away from the cup.
As his putt rolled ever so slowly toward the hole, Woods lifted his putter in the air and started backing away. When the ball dropped, he threw both arms in the air, screamed and pumped his fist twice. He was grinning as he fished the ball out of the cup, and he and caddie Steve Williams exchanged a high-five. That put him at 13 under, and gave him a share of the lead with Furyk.
The Furyk of '03 _ the one who won two tournaments, including the U.S. Open, and had 13 other top-10 finishes _ wouldn't have flinched with Tiger on his tail. Neither did this year's version.
He calmly made birdie putts of 15, 17 and 11 feet to get to 15 under. A group ahead, Woods was faltering. After a three-putt bogey on 13, he banged a shot off the lip of the bunker on 14 and couldn't get it out of the trap, making another bogey.
"I thought I was two-up, maybe three-up because I had heard some groans on the 14th green," Furyk said. "I knocked in my little putt, asked my caddie where I stood. He said, `Four-up,' and that's a good feeling with four to go."
He then saved par after two bad shots on 15, securing the win.
"After what he did last week, he should be pretty proud of the way he turned it around," Woods said. "To play as solidly as he did today after not taking care of business down the stretch last week goes to show you how much guts he has. To come right back the week after and win, that's pretty sweet."
And all the answers anyone needs.
Divots
With a $540,000 paycheck for second place, Woods became the first player in Tour history to reach the $50 million mark in career earnings. ... Curtis' third-place finish was his best since winning the 2003 British Open. ... Vijay Singh had another rough day, shooting 2-over 73 and finishing at 4-under 280.
First, Jim Furyk heard endless questions about his wrist. Next, he was asked about the state of his game and where the form that won him a major championship in 2003 went. He also heard about that victory drought, especially after his collapse last weekend. He has an answer for everyone now. An emphatic one at that.