Why Jim Furyk burst out laughing during Tiger Woods’ final round at the BMW Championship in 2009

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There are a number of world-class golfers who must sometimes wonder just how many tournaments they would have won had they not played in the same era as Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods was at his peak at a time when golf had so many amazing players. And yet, the 15-time major champion so often found a way to go to that gear that no-one else seemed to have. Everyone can remember a time when Woods appeared to be playing a completely different course to the rest of the field.

Woods is obviously only second to Jack Nicklaus for major championship victories, while he is now tied for the most wins of all-time on the PGA Tour – alongside Sam Snead.

One of Woods’ most dominant wins came at the 2009 BMW Championship. He had set up the win with a course record 62 during the third round at Cog Hill – leaving him seven shots clear heading into the final round.

How Tiger Woods left Jim Furyk laughing during the final round of the BMW Championship

He ended up extending that lead by one further shot on Sunday, with an eagle on the 15th putting the icing on the cake.

Jim Furyk and Marc Leishman were the players who found themselves eight shots back while also finishing in a tie for second. And speaking after his final round, Furyk admitted that he felt almost foolish for thinking that he had a small chance at one stage.

“Well, we went out way, way, way behind the lead. I kind of had my eye on second place,” he said.

“And when I got to 10 today, I remember the last I looked at the board a few holes back, Tiger was at 15. I started thinking, well, what if? What if he’s 14 now? What if he made another bogey? I asked my caddie where he stood. He said, “17,” and I just started laughing. So we were just trying to finish second.”

How often Furyk finished as a runner-up to Woods

Furyk obviously had an unbelievable career. He won the US Open in 2003, while he has the lowest round in PGA Tour history after making a 58 at the Travelers Championship in 2016.

And there were a couple of occasions when he did manage to get the better of Woods. Woods finished second or in a tie for second to Furyk at both the 2003 Buick Open and the 2005 Cialis Western Open.

But the 2009 BMW Championship was one of four occasions where Furyk finished as runner-up to Woods on the PGA Tour – and at no event was the margin of victory larger than at Cog Hill 15 years ago.