Skip to main content
Part of complete coverage on

Victorious Furyk unfazed by Tiger's unfortunate timing

Jim Furyk was relieved after ending a run of 58 tournaments without a victory on the PGA Tour.
Jim Furyk was relieved after ending a run of 58 tournaments without a victory on the PGA Tour.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Jim Furyk says he is not angry with Tiger Woods over timing of Sunday's interviews
  • Furyk was still playing final hole of Florida tournament when Woods spoke on television
  • American claimed his first PGA Tour victory since 2007 with title at Transitions Championship
  • His win at Chevron World Challenge in December also overshadowed by Woods saga

(CNN) -- Veteran golfer Jim Furyk insists that the timing of Tiger Woods' headline-grabbing post-sex scandal interviews on Sunday did not take the gloss off his first U.S. PGA Tour victory since 2007.

The 39-year-old was still playing out the final hole of the Transitions Championship in Florida when his fellow American was broadcast on two television channels in his first comments since announcing that he will return to action at the Masters next month.

Woods was criticized by some players after making his first statement admitting marital infidelities during the World Match Play tournament in Arizona after a controversy that emerged just before the Chevron World Challenge event last December.

Woods was due to host that post-season tournament, which Furyk also won -- but his success but was completely overshadowed by the intense media speculation over the world No. 1.

Video: Tiger Woods goes public

But Furyk was just relieved to have claimed his first victory on the world's premier golf circuit since the Canadian Open two and a half years ago.

"Shoot, no-one was watching me then," he quipped on the PGA Tour Web site after completing a one-shot victory over Korea's K.J. Choi at Palm Harbor's Innisbrook course in Tampa Bay following a four-hour delay caused by a thunderstorm.

I won the damn thing and it really doesn't matter to me. I've never been someone that's craved the notoriety or the limelight
--Jim Furyk
RELATED TOPICS
  • Jim Furyk
  • Tiger Woods
  • K.J. Choi
  • PGA Tour
  • Golf

"You know what, tomorrow the paper is going to read that I won the golf tournament, and I don't really care if it's a three-page spread or a little blurb in the corner of the paper because the article is about him.

"I won the damn thing and it really doesn't matter to me. I've never been someone that's craved the notoriety or the limelight. I can live with it and I'm fine with it."

Furyk claimed his 14th win on tour, 58 tournaments after his victory in Canada, despite faltering with a bogey at the last hole which came after a nervy near-shanked shot from the trees off the fairway.

"I can't tell you how happy I am," he said. "Hindsight, I wish I would have stamped it out and knocked it right in the center of the 17th green, right in the center of the 18th green and got it out there in style.

"But my family likes to tell me I never do that, I make it interesting, and once again I did."

Furyk moved up three places to sixth in the world rankings, which Woods still tops by a large margin from Steve Stricker despite his absence from the circuit so far this year.

Stricker finished in a tie for eighth on six-under-par 278, seven shots behind Furyk.