Fit-again Furyk ready to hit dizzy heights

When you have a swing like the one possessed by Jim Furyk, you have heard all the octopi references several times over. It does not take much in his era of identikit, coach-approved swings to stand out from the crowd with an unusual action. A huge loop, which gets slightly less huge as time goes on, looks different but not to Furyk, who has been taught all his career by his father Mike.

When it gets to the business area the results are there for all to see. "My swing is always going to have a certain flair but I hit the ball pretty straight," he said. "I've always thought my best chance of winning a major was at the US Open or the Open Championship."

Furyk is now 32 and has spent some time on the shortlist of those not yet to have won a major, a few places down from the usual suspects like Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie. A return of nine top-10 finishes might be slightly disappointing and, in fact, they are spread equally across all four majors, with three coming in the Open and two in the other three.

Another US Open approaches and Furyk, the world number nine, must again be among the potential contenders. He might not possess the length of some others but at Congressional in 1997, a course that was only a yard shorter than the Black course at Bethpage State Park, Furyk was fifth. A reason why his time might be about to arrive is that he has just recorded the best of his seven PGA Tour victories.

It came at the Memorial Tournament, where his 65 was the lowest-ever final round by a winner. It was remarkable stuff. Furyk has always had a good short game but here he chipped in at the 12th and holed a bunker shot at the 15th. He has done this sort of thing before.

He chipped in to beat Nick Faldo in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama, while he holed a bunker shot at the NEC World Invitational last August during a seven-hole play-off with Tiger Woods. "We lost overall at Valderrama and Tiger eventually won at Firestone so this meant that much more," Furyk said of his efforts at Muirfield Village. "It's definitely a big confidence booster for the US Open."

It was an emotional victory for Furyk, not just because it is the event annually hosted by Jack Nicklaus – "everyone's hero when we were growing up," he said. It was at Muirfield Village in 1995 that he met his wife Tabitha and they return regularly to her hometown. Tabitha is due to give birth to their first child at the beginning of July.

He should be fine for playing at the US Open, without the need for a bleeper as carried by Mickelson at Pinehurst in 1999, but he could miss the Open at Muirfield, the course after which Nicklaus named his own creation in Ohio. "If the baby is on time or early I'll definitely be going over – two wins at the two Muirfields would be good. But if the baby is late then I won't be going."

The win also came after a strange start to the season for Furyk. "I woke up one morning at the World Match Play and had trouble getting out of bed. The doctors think I had a virus that affected my inner ear on my right side. I basically had vertigo, which just means you're dizzy. I wouldn't say I'm a hundred per cent right now, but I'm feeling much better.

"I guess it is really common. I've had a lot of players tell me they have been affected by the same thing. It's just going to take a little time for everything to right itself. The more tired I am the worse I feel, but if I pace myself, I'll be OK.

"I had a month off to get ready for the Players' Championship and since then my health has been good but I haven't been playing particularly well. I wouldn't blame it on ailments or how I'm feeling, I just haven't been scoring real well.

"There have been some frustrating weeks. I was hitting the ball better than I have at any time in my entire career. I was maybe top-five in greens hit and top-five in fairways hit and really felt like I could do anything I wanted to with a golf ball. I have worked really hard with my dad at home and with the short game coming round it is all starting to pay off."