During a conversation with Jim Furyk amid the week of the Procore Championship, Golfweek writer Adam Schupak suggested that the U.S. President Cup captain lose the upcoming matches in order to boost the branding of the biennial match-play tournament.
“We were chatting on a bench at the putting green at Silverado Resort on a beautiful, warm sunny day, talking about final preparations for the Presidents Cup in Montreal, his captain’s picks and a bit of a walk down memory lane,” wrote Schupak.
“Much of the transcript of that conversation is covered below but we’re going to skip ahead in the action to the most riveting part, where I mentioned to Furyk that for the sake of the future of the biennial competition, which the U.S. has dominated at a clip of 14-1-1 or admittedly as close as Alabama warming up for its SEC slate of games in September, we needed the equivalent of Eastern Michigan to take down mighty Notre Dame.”
Shupak described Furyk, a former U.S. Open champion and Ryder Cup winner, as patriotic and a “fierce competitor” who didn’t take kindly to the writer’s suggestion for America to lose the matches.
Furyk then questioned Shupak’s patriotism.
“Really? You’re American?” Furyk said. “I do actually take offense at that. I don’t hate you but it’s a pretty shi__y thing to say.”
Shupak wrote, “I realized I had stepped out of line so I started backtracking and explaining that as a journalist, I don’t root for either team but the saying is we root for the story. I’ve covered every Presidents Cup since 2011 and I’m still waiting to see the International Team win.”
Shupak added, “Nothing personal. But the competition really needs an International Team victory to energize the matches.”
Furyk shot back, “So it’s not like I’m killing you right now, but F–k you. Go f–k yourself. You can quote me on that one.”