Jim Furyk gets first PGA Tour victory since 2007

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Jim Furyk showed the nerves of a player trying to win for the first time on the PGA Tour. Considering how long it had been since his last victory, it felt that way.

Furyk closed with a two-under-par 69 on Sunday for a one-shot victory over K.J. Choi in the Transitions Championship, his first victory since the 2007 Canadian Open to end his longest winless stretch since he first joined the tour 16 years ago.

He did just enough right on the back nine of Innisbrook that he could afford a few mistakes down the stretch, and he nearly made a whopper.

With a two-shot lead on the 18th hole of the Copperhead course, Furyk drove into the trees, nearly took out NBC reporter Roger Maltbie with his next shot and needed a good lag from 30 feet to secure a bogey.

Furyk finished at 13-under 271 and won for the 14th time in his career, moving to No. 6 in the world rankings.

“I have a habit of making it tough on myself,” Furyk said. “Just nerves got me, to be honest with you.”

Choi, who started three shots out of the lead, was tied with Furyk through seven holes until a two-shot swing on the par-three eighth. Choi never got any closer until the final hole. He closed with a four-under 67, but his runner-up finish should be enough to move him to No. 47 in the world and give him a good chance to get into the Masters.

Choi raised both arms in a strongman pose when he heard about the world ranking, a good consolation prize provided he stays in the top 50 after Bay Hill next week.

Bubba Watson, who has never won on the PGA Tour or Nationwide Tour, also gave Furyk a good run and was within two shots throughout the back nine during a final round that had nearly six hours of weather delays.

Watson played without a bogey until the par-three 15th, when he came up short of the green, chipped over the green and dropped a crucial shot. He made pars the rest of the way for a 68, finishing alone in third.

Nick Watney had a 67 and was fourth, while defending champion Retief Goosen was another shot back after a 71.

Furyk had gone 58 starts on the PGA Tour without winning. He did capture the Chevron World Challenge in December at Sherwood Country Club against a world-class field of 18 players, which counted toward the world ranking.

He never lost the lead, although Furyk had to endure some sharp changes in momentum. He followed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 12th with a three-putt on the 13th, and followed another birdie with another three-putt bogey.

Furyk failed to hit his last three greens in regulation, putting from 80 feet off the green on the 16th to within a foot to save par, and hitting a tough bunker shot from sand packed by morning rain to seven feet and making the par putt on the 17th.

That figured to be the hard part until Furyk’s adventures on the 18th. But he made his bogey, and he won his trophy.