Furyk turns season right-side up Down Under

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Jim Furyk was a perfect 5-0-0 and helped lead the U.S. to victory.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Jim Furyk won the FedExCup, the $10 million bonus and the PGA TOUR's Player of the Year award last year. But in the ensuing months, he lost the one thing no golfer can do without.

Confidence.

He finally found it this week -- halfway around the world.

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On Sunday at Royal Melbourne, Furyk put the finishing touches on one of the best weeks of his golfing career, beating Ernie Els 4 and 3 in singles to complete a perfect 5-0-0 week as the leading point-getter in the United States' victory over the International team at The Presidents Cup.

That puts Furyk in the record book as one of just four players with five wins at a single Presidents Cup. His teammate, Tiger Woods, was the last player to achieve that feat, two years ago at Harding Park. Mark O'Meara (1996) and Shigeki Maruyama (1998) were the other two.

It was a gratifying ending to an otherwise disappointing season for Furyk, who managed just four top-10 finishes in 26 starts on TOUR this year and was rarely seen in contention on the back nine on Sundays.

He wouldn't admit to crying tears of joy -- or perhaps tears of relief? -- after beating Els, but there was no doubt he was emotional about his bounce-back week in Australia.

"I'll be honest -- I lost confidence this year at times," Furyk said. "You can lose confidence quickly, and it takes awhile to build it up again.

"It was nice to build it up this week."

Furyk, ever the consummate pro, made sure to mention his playing partners this week. He teammed with Phil Mickelson to win his first three matches, and then when Mickelson sat out the Saturday four-ball session, he rolled with Nick Watney for another win.

Although he did not specifically ask Mickelson whether this was true or not, Furyk guessed that Mickelson asked to be his partner because "I struggled so much this year and played poorly ... definitely the worst of anybody that's sitting up here right now," he said as he looked at the 11 other members of his team.

"So knowing him for as long as I have, being good friends, I assume that he asked to play with me because he felt like he could get a lot out of me this week; that maybe he could help me and pump some confidence into me and get me playing well." Furyk added. "And he did that."

Mickelson usually takes on the mentor role with young American players. This time, he apparently did the same thing, only with a veteran player who just needed a little boost.

For his part, Mickelson said that "what made pairing easy with Jim was that he made a lot of birdies, and it's pretty easy to pair with a guy that does that and makes solid 4-, 5-footers when you need it."

Representing the U.S. at these kinds of team events is not something that Furyk takes lightly. This is his 13th Presidents Cup/Ryder Cup team, and he relishes every moment.

As a veteran player now, he understands that his role is more than just to whack a golf ball around the course. He's there to manage, to offer guidance, to provide input. U.S. Captain Fred Couples cited him as one of the players involved in the most important decisions involving pairings and partnerships.

Said Couples: "I'm not telling Jim Furyk when to play and what slot to be in."

Furyk is destined to be a captain himself one of these days. He said it's in the back of his mind. "But not anytime soon," he added, realizing that at 41 years old, he still has a chance to play in a few more.

When he woke up Sunday, he had a chance to be a part of history, to be in the rare group of players who went through an entire Presidents Cup week undefeated.

But history doesn't matter to Furyk, at least not right now. His only thought was helping the U.S. clinch the Cup.

"I'll go 0-5-0 if you guarantee me a team victory," he said.

Going undefeated this week was nice. It means he contributed. It will mean even more when he gets a chance to reflect on it. "Icing on the cake to play so well," he said.

It also means that he no longer needs to search for his confidence.

Sure, he had to go halfway around the world to find it. But it was worth the trip.