Furyk in PGA event after first major fail since '95
Jim Furyk, the 2018 US Ryder Cup captain who is ineligible for a major championship for the first time since 1995, tees off Thursday at the US PGA Barbasol Championship.
The 47-year-old American, who fired the first 58 in US PGA history last August, joins fellow former major champions Angel Cabrera, Retief Goosen, Yang Yong-Eun and Davis Love in the 132-player field.
Most of the world's top golfers will be in England for the year's third major men's tournament, the British Open, at Royal Birkdale.
But this event at the par-71 Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail layout in Auburn, Alabama, offers lesser names and older talents a chance for a top result.
Most of the field is outside the top 125 on the US PGA season points list, the mark needed to qualify for the season-ending playoffs.
Australia's Aaron Baddeley, last year's Barbasol champion to end a 5 1/2-year win drought, will be among those playing at the Open instead of defending his title.
Furyk, the 2003 US Open winner, had not failed to qualify for a major championship since the 1995 British Open, a run of 87 consecutive events, although he missed playing in the 2004 and 2016 Masters due to wrist surgeries.
Furyk fired the lowest score in US PGA history, a 12-under par 58, at last year's Travelers Championship. But he hasn't managed a top-20 finish since November and has not won since taking his 17th career PGA title at the 2015 Heritage tournament.
Love will play in the same field as his son Dru for only the third time in their careers.
Furyk plays alongside Love and South Korea's K.J. Choi in the first two rounds.
South Korean Charlie Wi makes only his fourth start of the year after focusing on his teaching academy most of this season.