Jim Furyk really didn't want to miss the cut in the 2005 Masters Tournament. He'd finished fourth in 2003, then was forced to skip the 2004 event because of wrist surgery.

Jim Furyk really didn't want to miss the cut in the 2005 Masters Tournament. He'd finished fourth in 2003, then was forced to skip the 2004 event because of wrist surgery. (Andrew Davis Tucker/Staff)

When he opened with 4-over-par 76 at Augusta National Golf Club last year, it didn't look good for the 2003 U.S. Open champion.

But he came back with 67 to easily make the cut. The 67 was one shot off the low round of the day.

More impressively, he didn't have a bogey on his card, which is saying something at the challenging Augusta National.

"Any course is hard to go around without a bogey," Furyk said. "I think the way they try to set up Augusta and the length that's been added, and as quick and as firm and undulating as those greens are, it's tough not to get around there without one bogey. But it can be done. I'm sure there were a handful of those rounds last year during the tournament."

Since the 2005 Masters, 155 yards have been added to the course, which will now play to 7,445 yards. That is not good news for Furyk, who ranked 170th on the tour in 2005 in driving distance with an average of 280 yards per drive.

"The way the golf course was set up in the past, it was less difficult for a guy of my length to win the Masters," Furyk said. "Now they've added the length, they've definitely narrowed (the number of players who can win) a lot more."

Not that Furyk is counting himself out.

"The way I've played the last few years and my ranking in the world, I don't feel there is any event I can't win," said Furyk, who is in the top 10 in the World Golf Ranking. "There are obviously some that favor my game more than others."

Even if he couldn't win the Masters, Furyk said, "I'd still want to play, but it sure as hell wouldn't be any fun."

For Furyk, the best part of the 2005 season came in the Western Open. His victory there put an end to any doubts about his recovery from surgery on his left wrist, which sidelined him from late March to mid-June 2004.

"Those questions went away," he added. "It was a bit of a relief. I definitely had the tape-recorder going, giving the same answer out a lot."

In addition to the Western Open victory, Furyk had four runner-up finishes in 2005 and finished fourth on the money list - just as he had in 2003, the year before his wrist surgery.

Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.