It’s not goodbye, because Jim Furyk said the foundation he shares with his wife Tabitha will always be based in Jacksonville and will prioritize charities on the First Coast.
There are no regrets because Furyk said having the historic Timuquana Country Club as the venue for the first five years of the Constellation Furyk & Friends helped set a firm foundation for a tournament that will remain a fall staple on the PGA Tour Champions fall schedule for the next five years at the Ocean Hammock Golf Resort and Spa in Palm Coast.
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Furyk does concede that the parting with Timuquana after this year’s tournament, which will be Oct. 3-5, “is definitely bittersweet.”
Tournament host Jim Furyk (left), Rocco Mediate (center), and Tabitha Furyk pose with the trophy following the Constellation Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club on October 6, 2024 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
“We had a great run,” Furyk said of the event that was the offshoot of his one-day charity tournament at the Sawgrass Country Club from 2011-2020 and has since been voted by Champions Tour players as their favorite tournament.
Furyk & Friends is also projected to surpass $5 million in charity following this year’s event.
“The Timuquana members have been very supportive, and the staff has been amazing,” Furyk said. “The club afforded us an opportunity to start this new journey so I think the week of this year’s tournament will be more of a celebration.”
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Timuquana General Manager Greg Sheara said that’s the message he is delivering to his membership and staff.
“There is still a lot of excitement about the tournament coming back for one more year,” he said. “I know there is a constituency of our membership that will miss the atmosphere and the fun we had with the tournament.”
Timuquana’s goals for association with Furyk & Friends were met
Sheara said the club realized a bump in membership and national profile with Furyk & Friends being played at the 102-year-old Donald Ross course, which has some of the most breathtaking scenery on the First Coast from the St. Johns River to the interior of the course, lined with stately pine trees and oaks dripping with Spanish Moss.
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Five years of having the PGA Tour stars of another era, on national television, will have served the club’s purpose, Sheara said.
“The tournament has done a lot of things for us,” he said. “It opened up the club’s visibility to the community, the membership grew and the financial component [clubs are paid a rental fee by the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour, which Shear declined to disclose] was good for us. We have a waiting list for membership and we have been very grateful to the tournament and the PGA Tour Champions.”
Furyk & Friends will bring the music to the golf course
The usual amenities of the Furyk & Friends remain intact: Plenty of places for fans to socialize, eat and drink when they’re not watching a field loaded with World Golf Hall of Fame winners and major champions; interactive golf games and activities for kids; the Tailgate Village where everyone can mix golf and football on the weekend; and for those so inclined to arrive at the tournament courtesy of the scenic St. Johns River, the Circle K Water Taxi will be running non-stop, free of charge.
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But the celebration Furyk wanted for the week also will be manifested in another feature of the tournament: music. Instead of having the weekly concert at Daily’s Place next door to EverBank Stadium, Furyk is bringing the music to the golf course.
The Community Concert Series will feature two country acts near the 17th hole immediately following the conclusion of rounds on Friday, Oct. 3 and Saturday, Oct. 4.
Love and Theft’s Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson will perform at the Timuquana Country Club on Oct. 4 after the second round of the Constellation Furyk & Friends.
Friday’s headline act will feature LOCASH, which has had hits such as “I Love This Life” and “One Big Country Song.”
Saturday’s performance will be by Love And Theft, which had the No. 1 Billboard Country Song, “Angel Eyes.”
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Admission to these concerts is included with all Friday and Saturday tournament tickets.
Tournament’s move could open up new markets
Furyk pointed out that a majority of Timuquana members voted to renew a five-year contract with the tournament, but the club’s “legacy membership” was slightly against it and the club in the end decided the overall vote was close enough to part ways with the tournament.
“There are some folks that are sad we’re leaving Timuquana,” Furyk said. “But we’ll have to turn that page and look at everything as a new opportunity, maybe a way for us to spread our wings and grow even more.”
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Furyk is alluding to the fact that Hammock Beach is 70 miles from downtown Jacksonville but 34 miles from downtown Daytona Beach, 84 miles from downtown Orlando, 91 miles from Ocala and 106 miles from Cocoa Beach.
That’s a huge footprint that covers 15 Florida counties. There are no other PGA Tour Champions events and only two PGA Tour events within that area, The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, in back-to-back weeks in March.
How many golf fans, especially retirees who enjoy playing and watching the sport, can that attract to Furyk & Friends, both on site and watching on the Golf Channel broadcast (which has added 90 minutes of live coverage to the final round on Oct. 5)?
“Everybody is pretty excited,” Furyk said. “It’s a Jack Nicklaus golf course in proximity to the ocean, with a chance to bring Daytona and Orlando people. After we finish a great week at Timuquana, I think the excitement level is going to keep building until we get to next year and see what actually happens.”
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Furyk said Jacksonville will remain vital to the tournament
Furyk has raised his family on the First Coast and pointed out that his 30 years in the area are longer than he and his wife Tabitha had lived in their respective hometowns in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
So will the Furyk & Friends and the Jim and Tabitha Foundation keep its identity with Jacksonville and the First Coast.
“We will remain Jacksonville-based,” he said. “We have a great outreach in the five-county area. This will spread but Jacksonville is still going to remain our hub and the mainstay of our charitable outreach. This is always going to be home for us and we’re going to continue to support the community like we always have.”
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Timuquana still open to outside events
Sheara said the parting of ways with the Furyk & Friends doesn’t mean Timuquana won’t be open to bringing in significant championships on a statewide or national level.
The club hosted the Jacksonville Amateur for the first time in July and in the past was the venue for USGA national championships such as the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2022 and the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball in 2019.
Timuquana also hosted the Florida Open in 2015 and a U.S. Open 36-hole sectional in 2016.
“We’ve talked to the Florida State Golf Association and the USGA,” Sheara said. “Our members still want a little bit of that kind of competition here. We loved hosting the Four-Ball and I think you might see events like that coming back to us over a number of years.”
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Past Furyk & Friends winners at Timuquana
2021: Phil Mickelson held off Miguel Angel Jimenez by two shots to win the inaugural Furyk & Friends. It was the third of Mickelson’s four PGA Tour Champions titles and his 15-under score still stands as the tournament record.
2022: Steve Stricker matched Mickelson’s feat of posting three scores in the 60s to beat Harrison Frazar by two shots at 14-under. It was Stricker’s third Champions Tour victory in four starts.
2023: Brett Quigley had a four-shot lead with five holes to play and overcame a double bogey at the par-3 14th hole to win by one shot over Steve Alker.
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2024: Rocco Mediate had a three-shot lead with four holes to play, fell into a playoff with Bob Estes, when won on the second hole of sudden death. Both players shot 12-under.
Who’s playing at the Furyk & Friends?
In addition to the last two champions, Mediate and Quigley, other players to have committed by Sept. 22 include World Golf Hall of Fame members Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal and Retief Goosen; major champions David Duval, Corey Pavin, David Toms, Darren Clarke, Angel Cabrera, Stewart Cink, Mike Weir and Y.E. Yang; and past multiple PGA Tour winners Fred Funk, Joe Durant, Stuart Appleby, Chris DiMarco, Scott Verplank, Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry and Jay Haas,
Players had until Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. to commit.
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Who are the local players in the field?
In addition to Duval, a Jacksonville native, and Singh and Funk, long-time residents of Ponte Vedra Beach, one local player committed with local ties is Felipe Aguilar, a native of Chile and a former University of North Florida player.
Aguilar played for the Ospreys during their NCAA Division II Era from 1996-1998 and was the Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year in 1997.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Furyk & Friends PGA Tour Champions event set for Timuquana finale
