Aug 14, 2016 By Mike Dudurich for The 4 min read

Surprisingly, there has been a fair amount of criticizing and downplaying of the record-setting accomplishment of Jim Furyk last Sunday.

The 46-year-old with roots in Western Pennsylvania played a nearly perfect round Sunday morning in the Travelers Championship near Hartford. Furyk had 10 birdies, an eagle and seven pars to become the first to shoot 58 in a PGA Tour event.

He posted a front-nine total of 27 and came home in 31, leaving a couple other birdies on the course. He hit 13-of-14 fairways (the miss was by a foot) and hit all 18 greens.

Pretty heady stuff but not enough to satisfy some critics.

Because the TPC River Highlands course was set up at only 6,800 yards and played to a par of 70, detractors have questioned just how good Furyk’s round was.

Really? He’s the only one to have posted that number and yes, he was out of contention and was playing early Sunday morning.

The bottom line is this: Furyk went out and played the dream round. Did he choose Sunday as the round to do that?

Of course he didn’t. Those things just happen, they’re not chosen.

For the record, the first-ever 58 came on a par 70 course. The six 59s that have been posted (Furyk has one of those, too) broke down this way: one on a par 70, two on a par 71 and three on par 72s.

What does all of that mean? I don’t know and I certainly can’t understand the fuss being made about.

The man shot 58, after posting a 59 in 2013. Can’t we just revel in that for a while?

Regarding whether Furyk, a huge Steelers fan, is from western or eastern Pennsylvania, I talked to him at the U.S. Open and he clarified that issue.

“My dad took the job as the golf pro at Uniontown Country Club in 1972, I think,” Furyk said. “I was about two years old then. He then became the first pro at Duck Hollow Golf Course, which at the time was called Colonial. He then took a sales job in the eastern part of the state and that’s where I grew up. I was here about five years.”

Furyk grew up in the Lancaster area and played most of his golf in that part of the state.

“My family back here (in Oakmont, South Park, Library and Cheswick) is a hard-working, blue collar family,” Furyk said. “Because I didn’t play that much golf out here, I don’t feel as much pressure on this side of the state.”

Furyk referred to his second-place finish in the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont and his disappointing rounds of 77-79 result at Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia in 2013.

He backed that assertion up with a tie for second in June at Oakmont.

n n n

Waynesburg’s Robert Rohanna deserves a great deal of credit for his victory this week in the Pennsylvania Open at the Club at Nevillewood.

Last month, he was in control of the West Penn Open and needed a pair of pars on the last two holes to win. Instead he made bogey and triple bogey and lost to Oakmont Country Club’s Devin Gee.

And, then the week before the state open he was competing in the Tampa Open when his opponent made a birdie on the final hole of regulation to tie Rohanna and another on the first hole of a playoff to beat him.

His second state title (he also won in 2010) should give him a boost as he gets back out on PGA Tour Latinoamerica.

n n n

Do you have an interesting story about your club or course or an individual who has done something special, let me know. Send your story ideas to mike.dudurich@gmail.com.