Furyk Breaks Victory Drought at RBC Heritage


After closing with an 8-under 63 to tie Kevin Kisner in regulation, Jim Furyk birdied the second playoff hole to win the $5.9 million RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Linkisn in Head Island, South Carolina.

The 44-year-old Furyk came out smoking on the front nine, posting six birdies to make the turn in 6-under 30. After a bogey on the 11th he reeled off three birdies in four holes followed by three straight pars for a 33 on the par-71 course, finishing 72 holes in 18-under 266.

Kisner, a 31-year-old in search of his first Tour win, had an eagle on the par-4 second hole and two birdies for a 32 on the front nine. The South Carolinian then had three birdies - including a clutch one on the par-4 18th - to match Furyk.

After both players birdied the first extra hole, the 18th, Furyk sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the second hole, the par-3 17th, for his 17th Tour title and first since the 2010 Tour Championship, a stretch of 100 tournaments.

When his winning putt dropped, the normally placid Furyk punched the air in an emotional celebration. "I think getting excited on 17, there was a lot of pent-up frustrations," he told reporters later.

As for his extended winless drought, Furyk added, "I was starting to feel like this game is beating me up, and the losing hurts a lot more than winning feels good. I think I just forget how good" it feels to win."

The victory was worth $1.062 million and 500 FedEx Cup points.

In anticipation of bad weather coming in later on Sunday, the field went off in threesomes from the first and 10th tees starting at 7:30 a.m.

Finishing two strokes out of the playoff was 54-hole leader Troy Merritt, who had a 69, while three back was Brendon Todd (67). Defending champion Matt Kuchar carded his second straight 68 to end up in fifth at 270; another shot back was Sean O'Hair (64).

Tied for seventh at 282 were South Africans Louis Oosthuizen (67) and Branden Grace (69), and another stroke back were Americans Morgan Hoffman (68) and Bo Van Pelt (69).

After rebounding from an opening 74 with rounds of 62 and 68, newly crowned Masters' champion Jordan Spieth shot a 70 Sunday to end up T-11 with Blake Adams, Justin Thomas and Brice Garnett.

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