JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jim Furyk is doing his best to showcase the First Coast.
The Constellation Furyk & Friends golf tournament is quickly approaching and the field is growing, too. On Tuesday at Timuquana Country Club, Furyk ticked off some of the players golfers who have committed to the event.
The big name … Phil Mickelson.
The bigger goal ... expanding pro golf’s view of the greater Jacksonville area.
Furyk made that announcement as the PGA Tour Champions event prepares for its first stop at Timuquana on Oct. 8.
Mickelson, 50, will no doubt be the biggest attraction in the tournament.
Lefty won his sixth major title earlier this year, the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, becoming the oldest golfer to win a major. He’s still one of the top names in the sport.
Having Mickelson — and other headliners like Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III — in town for the event is just one draw.
For Furyk, it’s also about showing a side of the area that is often overlooked during Players Championship week in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Timuquana is right in the thick of Jacksonville, so why not use the perks of Duval County in the event. Furyk, whose 2003 U.S. Open championship is one of his 17 PGA Tour wins, and his wife, Tabitha, have been putting the pieces in place for the event since they announced it prior to the 2020 Players.
“I’ve competed against, I’ve been friends with these guys for the last 20 to 30 years. And so to have such a quality field, a strong field, and you have to realize these folks, they know Jacksonville, they know Ponte Vedra. They played the Players, some of them 20 to 25 to 30 times, but really haven’t seen our city, haven’t seen Jacksonville, haven’t seen Timuquana, haven’t seen the St. Johns River,” Furyk said. “And so there’s an excitement for me to kind of showcase, not only Ponte Vedra and kind of what they know of our area, but to see this wonderful city, to see the river.”
The tournament is a huge event for the area. It has a $2 million purse and will feature a pre-event concert with musical acts Darius Rucker and Scotty McCreery performing Oct. 5 at Daily’s Place.
Pro-ams for the event are Oct. 6 and 7, with the 54-hole tournament Oct. 8-10. Ticket information for the event can be found here.