The Jacksonville Amateur Golf Association held its monthly meeting Aug. 31 and welcomed Jim and Tabitha Furyk as guest speakers.
The couple talked about the upcoming inaugural Constellation Furyk and Friends Tournament at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville on Oct. 4-10, which will be one of 24 points events on the PGA Tour Champions circuit this year.
Although the tournament is a new undertaking for the Furyks, it is not entirely out of the ordinary for a family that has been around the game of golf throughout their lives.
“Some of the best golfers on the Champions Tour will be taking to the course,” Jim Furyk said.
Tabitha also informed that they had received word from three-time major winner Padraig Harrington that he will play the tournament for his first PGA Tour Champions event.
With seven tournaments left in the Champions Tour season, Furyk sits in second place in the standings and is attempting to become the first player to win the FedEx Cup and Charles Schwab Cup.
According to Jim, he met Tabitha years ago at the Memorial Tournament following a practice round and that is how their relationship got its start.
Former PGA Tour golfer Mark McCumber is the one that initially convinced Jim to move to the area decades ago, after explaining how great of a place it was to live.
He ended up buying a townhouse only three houses down from McCumber and met Tabitha about one month later.
“Twenty-five years later and we still call it home,” Jim Furyk said.
After years of living in Ponte Vedra, the Furyks recently moved to the San Marco area of Jacksonville and made the decision based on their current children’s school situation, who attend The Bolles School in Jacksonville.
According to Tabitha, with their children growing up and getting more involved with school sports, it just made the most sense in terms of everyone’s busy schedule.
However, they still have a beach home in Ponte Vedra and continue to be connected to the community, especially by supporting charities through the Furyk Foundation.
“One of the things I learned early as a PGA Tour player was how each event affected the communities they were in,” Jim Furyk said.
The Furyks were involved in charity work prior to establishing the foundation in 2010 but forming the charity has allowed them to focus their impact even further.
“I had my best season on tour in 2010 and it just felt like the right time to get started,” Jim Furyk said.
The highlight of Furyk’s 2010 season, included winning the FedEx Cup Championship in 2010.
Immediately following the JAGA meeting, the Furyks were on their way to catch a plane ride to Atlanta to take in Tour Championship this week.
In other notes from the meeting: