Furyk named US Ryder Cup captain

Jim Furyk was appointed Wednesday as the US captain for the 2018 Ryder Cup in France, where his team will try to win on European soil for the first time in 25 years.

Furyk was a unanimous choice by the Ryder Cup committee last month.

The former US Open champion, and the only player in history to twice post rounds in the 50s, brings more playing experience than any other US captain. Furyk played on nine consecutive teams starting in 1997, and he was an assistant captain to Davis Love III last year at Hazeltine.

Love will be one of his assistants in France.

“He’s going to be a very tough act to follow,” Furyk said from PGA of America headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. “He put a system in place. He put the players behind it. It won’t make my task easier, but it makes it easier knowing there is a system in place. To have him by my side – his advice, his experience, two captaincies and one vice captaincy – is going to be priceless for me.”   

The Americans reshaped their thinking after the 2014 loss at Gleneagles, where Phil Mickelson publicly questioned Tom Watson’s leadership.