LOUISVILLE , Ky. — Don’t worry about Jim Furyk. He can handle it.
Don’t feel sorry for Furyk for the seemingly endless succession of heartbreaks he has endured in his career, for his agonizing near-misses at major championships or for his 28 career second-place finishes, including three maddening runner-up results this season.
Furyk always has been able to handle the consequence of the result, which more often than not in golf, ends in disappointment. It is part of what has made him one of the most consistent players the game has ever seen.
It is part of the reason Furyk went to bed Thursday night one shot out of the PGA Championship lead after shooting an opening-round 5-under-par 66 at Valhalla.
Furyk burns to win. But most importantly, he is not afraid to lose. He wants the ball — or in this case a club — in his hands at crunch time. This trait of internal strength has been a part of Furyk’s being since he was a kid.
“My dad loves to tell a story of me playing basketball as a kid and wanting to take the last shot in a high school basketball game,’’ Furyk recalled Thursday.
Reached by The Post at home in Florida Thursday, 67-year-old Mike Furyk, who always has been and still is his 44-year-old son’s golf coach, recalled that Manheim Township High School hoops game to which Furyk referred. To hear him tell the story is to understand exactly why Furyk is who he is.
“He was a junior and [his] school was playing Lebanon Catholic and it was a tight game, Jim’s team was down by one point with seven seconds left and the coach called time out,’’ Mike Furyk recalled. “He called a play for the ball to be inbounded to Jim in the corner and for Jim to look at the high post or low post and pass it. Jim, who [had the] best shot on the team, turns around and says, ‘Hey Coach, if I’m open do I take the shot?’ And the coach says, ‘Furyk, run the play I told you.’ Then he calls Jim back and says, ‘All right Furyk, if you’re open, you take the shot.’
“They inbound the ball to Jim and Jim’s got three guys on him and he never thought about passing it. He put the ball up and made the basket. Game over. We win by one. Everyone is standing up cheering, and I’m sitting up in the bleachers with my head in my hands wondering what in the hell happened.
“The next day I said, ‘Jim, I got to ask you a question. Tell me what happened when coach called time out and they inbounded that ball to you.’ He told me the story just like I told you and said, ‘I took the shot.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but you weren’t open.’ He goes, ‘Dad, it didn’t matter. I had to take the shot.’
“I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I was the only one on the team that could take it, because I was the only one on the team that could handle missing it. I can be the goat, I can be the hero and I can handle both sides of that. But those other guys, they couldn’t handle missing it, so I had to take the shot.’
“I said to him, ‘You know, you’re thinking pretty good at this age.’ I really didn’t have a comeback.’’
Jim Furyk’s greatest strength is the resiliency he has shown in his 20 years on the PGA Tour, winning 16 tournaments, including one major championship, the 2003 U.S. Open. He has not, however, won a tournament since 2010, and is starved for more.
This year, Furyk shot 65 in the final round at Wells Fargo and lost by a shot to J.B Holmes, who shot 66. He shot 66 in the final round of the Players Championship and watched Martin Kaymer stagger to victory with a 71, thanks to making an improbable long prayer putt to save par on 17. Most recently, he shot a final-round 69 at the Canadian Open while Tim Clark shot 65 to steal the trophy.
“The biggest thing I taught Jim about golf is that it isn’t a fair game, and life’s not fair and you have to be mentally tough,’’ Mike Furyk said.
If Furyk wins this week and adds a second major to his resume, he will become a virtual lock to get into the World Golf Hall of Fame — something he’s reticent to talk about because that’s not how he’s wired.
“I think there are guys in the Hall of Fame with a lot less credentials than my son has,’’ Mike Furyk said.