All the times he failed to win might be one reason Jim Furyk was a winner -- at least with the media.
He was voted to receive the ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award by the Golf Writers Association of America for his cooperation with the media. There certainly were plenty of chances last year as Furyk had four runner-up finishes and became the first player with $6 million in worldwide earnings without winning. It was a tough year, though Furyk never ducked reporters. At one event, given a chance to go out a side door, Furyk went out to speak to the media after losing a share of the 54-hole lead.
"I've never looked at it as tough or difficult," Furyk said. "I've always thought that we both have jobs to do. I feel I have a responsibility to help portray [to readers] what they are seeing and in order to do that, I can tell the media what I'm thinking."
In other awards, the GWAA voted to give Jarrod Lyle the Ben Hogan Award for remaining active in the game despite a physical ailment or illness. Lyle battled leukemia as a teenager, won twice on the Web.com Tour to get his PGA Tour card, then had a recurrence that kept him out of golf for some 18 months before he returned.
"To be awarded the Ben Hogan Award is a huge honor," Lyle said. "To be placed among some of the game's greatest is something I will cherish forever."
The William D. Richardson Award went to Doc Giffin for contributions to golf.
Giffin was a former press secretary for the PGA Tour when Arnold Palmer asked him to be his traveling secretary. This year, Giffin and Palmer celebrate 49 years working in that capacity. Giffin was the man behind the scenes of one of golf's most endearing figures. In the era before cellphones, Giffin agreed to stay at the home office in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, to write, organize fan mail and autograph requests and keep up with demands on Palmer that came from all corners of the world.
They will be honored April 8 in Augusta, Georgia, at the GWAA's annual awards dinner.
