The U.S. Ryder Cup team announced Jim Furyk as a vice captain for the upcoming 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club outside Rome, Italy, in September. The 2018 U.S. Ryder Cup captain and recently named 2024 U.S. Presidents Cup captain will join headman Zach Johnson in the leadership room alongside fellow vice captains Steve Stricker and Davis Love III.
“Jim and I have been friends for more than 20 years,” said Johnson. “He’s an amazing leader, mentor and someone I trust. He understands what it takes to compete at the highest level, and how to be a team player. I will be leaning on his experience a ton in the lead up to Marco Simone in September.”
This will not be Furyk’s first stint in a leadership role for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He unsuccessfully marched the U.S. into France the last time the Ryder Cup was held in Europe in 2018 and was greeted with a 17.5 to 10.5 drubbing at Le Golf National. His captaincy was sandwiched by vice captaincies in 2016 at Hazeltine National and 2021 at Whistling Straits. The U.S. was victorious in both.
“The staff that you bring on, the players you bring on as vice captains are going to be key for you [the captain] — the eyes, the ears that you have on the golf course,” Furyk told CBS Sports HQ in January. “Being a vice captain in the Ryder Cup, you’re intimately involved with a group. You usually have a group of guys, four guys you’re involved with, you’re out on the golf course following every single shot of a match for every session and you’re the captain’s eyes and ears.
“The captain becomes more like the CEO; he doesn’t see a lot of golf. You have to rely, you have to depend — the folks on TV are watching every shot, or a lot of them. The captain himself sees very, very, very little golf, basically par 3s … so you really have to rely on your staff and the folks you bring out there.”
Despite the U.S. winning two of the last three Ryder Cups, it’s been three decades since the Americans have raised the cup in Europe. Johnson, Furyk and Co. will aim to put this streak to bed as the U.S. side are currently heavy favorites to retain the cup and are likely to remain such in the lead up to the 44th Ryder Cup.