Ponte Vedra Beach’s own Jim Furyk made PGA Tour history Sunday, becoming the first golfer in tour history to card a 58.
Furyk’s record-setting achievement happened Aug. 7 during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT. After scoring a tournament record-setting 27 on the front nine, all eyes were on Furyk as he completed the round, garnering 10 birdies, an eagle and no bogeys on his way into the record books.
Prior to Sunday, Furyk, 46, had been one of just six golfers to ever score 59, joining that exclusive group in 2013 during the second round of the BMW Championship.
Payne Stewart Award
Just two days after making PGA Tour history, the tour announced that Furyk had been selected as the recipient of the 2016 Payne Stewart Award. Created in 2000 – a year after the legendary Stewart died tragically during the week of the Tour Championship – the Payne Stewart Award is presented annually to a professional golfer who exemplifies Stewart’s character, charity and sportsmanship.
Furyk was selected for the honor by a committee comprised primarily of past award recipients.
“I am incredibly honored to receive the Payne Stewart Award,” Furyk said. “I was fortunate enough to know Payne as a colleague and friend, and I always admired the character and spirit he brought to the game of golf.”
The award will be presented Sept. 20 in conjunction with the PGA Tour Championship in Atlanta. In addition to a sculpture by Bob Pack, the award includes an annual $500,000 grant, with $100,000 of that amount going to the Stewart Family Foundation and $100,000 to The First Tee of the Ozarks ($100,000). The remaining $300,000 goes to a charity designated by that year’s recipient.
Furyk has chosen to have the grant go to the Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation, the charity which he and his wife founded to aid children and families in need. Organizations that will benefit through the grant include Blessings in a Backpack, Community PedsCare, MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation, the Monique Burr Foundation, Operation Shower and Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
A Pennsylvania native, Furyk and his wife have been Ponte Vedra Beach residents since the mid-1990s.
