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ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk teed off on No. 17 as Masters champion Mike Weir looked on yesterday on Kauai.
Furyk wins Grand Slam
POIPU BEACH, Hawaii >> If he had the option, Jim Furyk would rather win by a comfortable margin than in a playoff.
"I've been in playoffs and on the wrong side of quite a few of those, so this is definitely a lot more fun or a lot less nerve-racking," Furyk said after carding a 4-under-par 68 yesterday to win the PGA Grand Slam by eight strokes over Mike Weir.
Furyk, the U.S. Open champion, pocketed $400,000 of a $1 million purse and snapped Tiger Woods' record string of five straight victories in the exclusive 36-hole event for the winners of this year's four majors. Furyk wound up 9 under on the 7,081-yard Poipu Bay course.
"I guess we're all glad he wasn't here," Furyk said of Woods. "I think we all want to play against the best player in the world and that's undeniably Tiger right now, but this is a great field."
Furyk, who won twice this year on the PGA Tour and finished fourth on the money list, was never seriously threatened. He opened Friday with a 67, good for a five-stroke lead over Weir, the Masters champion.
"I kind of got out to a big lead and just kept the ball in play in between the trees and got it done," Furyk said. "I played pretty solid. I struck the ball very, very well Friday, and today I found a way to get in the hole and made some putts."
Weir, the first Canadian to win a major, closed with a 71 to earn $250,000. PGA champion Shaun Micheel shot a 70 to finish 10 strokes back at 145 and collect $200,000. British Open champion Ben Curtis was another shot behind after a final-round 73 and made $150,000.
It was the first event in the Grand Slam's 21-year history featuring all first-time major champions. But it was nine-year tour veteran Furyk who showed his experience.
He held off his opponents with strong iron play, maintained his five-stroke advantage at the turn and birdied Nos. 10, 12 and 14 to pull away.
"At that point, we were playing for second place unless something crazy happened," Weir said. "You never know in this game, but as well as Jim was playing, he wasn't going to mess that up."
Gronberg leads Q-school: At Winter Garden, Fla., Sweden's Mathias Gronberg shot a 1-under 71 in windy conditions to take a three-stroke lead after the fourth round of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.
Gronberg had a 14-under 274 total on Orange County National's Panther Lake and Crooked Cat courses. He played Panther Lake yesterday, shooting the lone bogey-free round of the day to extend his streak of holes without a bogey to 39.
The top 30 players after the sixth round tomorrow will receive 2004 PGA Tour cards, and the remaining players will get exempt or conditional status on the Nationwide Tour.
