Jim Furyk couldn't close the deal for win in 2012

In 2010, if Jim Furyk was in contention, he brought home the victory. He won three times that year and captured the FedEx Cup trophy.

“Every opportunity I had, I succeeded and I was able to close the door,” Furyk said.

It was just the opposite in 2012. It started in March at the Transitions Championship, when he lost in a playoff to Luke Donald.

In June, at the U.S. Open, he seemed primed to win his second Open title. Tied for the lead going into the 16th hole, he hit his tee shot way left and made bogey. He would tie for fourth place, two off the lead.

Then, in early August at the Bridgestone, he made double bogey on the 72nd hole and lost by a shot to Keegan Bradley.

There’s more. In September’s Ryder Cup, Furyk missed par putts on the 17th and 18th holes and lost his singles match to Sergio Garcia as Europe won the cup.

Finally, in his final official event of the 2012 season, Furyk was tied for the 54-hole lead in the McGladrey Classic. He closed with 69 and finished two shots back.

“Every opportunity in 2012, I didn’t succeed,” he said. “I wasn’t able to close the door. That’s the difference between a great year and a solid year.

“The disappointing and frustrating part was I made some mental errors and some mistakes, usually not so much physical as mental, down the stretch in some golf tournaments,” Furyk said. “I’d love to have some of those opportunities back, but you can’t do that. I’m frustrated because I didn’t close the door.”

After his FedEx Cup-winning year in 2010, Furyk struggled in 2011, failing to win a tournament. He came out in 2012 ready to reclaim his role as one of America’s top players, and did – for the most part.

“It was a solid year, I proved a lot to myself as far as the things I was working on, the things I needed to improve on from 2011,” he said. “I really attacked those areas. I really got a lot stronger and better in those areas, and I think it showed and was reflected in my performance.

“There are a lot of things I did better in 2012 than I did in 2010 when I was player of the year,” Furyk said. “A lot of my stats, my scoring average, I did a lot better in 2012 than I did in 2010. So I take a lot of positives from it. I’d be lying if I wasn’t a little frustrated that I didn’t finish better in some events.”

Furyk isn’t one of the longest hitters on tour, which can make the 7,435-yard Augusta National Golf Club a challenge at times. A new set of irons in his bag – the Callaway X Forged Cavity Back – could make life easier for him. The irons will allow him to hit the higher shots that are helpful to hold Augusta National’s firm greens.

“It will only help to try to get the ball in the air a little bit better,” Furyk said. “It won’t only benefit me at Augusta, it will benefit me at other places. I don’t have an issue of hitting the ball down or low into the wind. My issue is not generating a lot of clubhead speed, so I don’t hit it as high as some of the bombers do.’’

This will be the 17th Masters appearance for Furyk, who has four top-10 finishes. He acknowledges how much the course has changed since his first Masters in 1996.

“It’s not the same golf course or the same style of game from when I first started playing Augusta. The golf course then was fun. It was much shorter and the greens were much firmer and faster, and that was the protection of the golf course.

“You could drive it to different parts of the fairway because they were so vast, to gain angles at certain pins. Now the golf course is much longer, it’s much tighter, much more penal.”

The added yardage, Furyk said, means fewer opportunities to gamble for birdie or even eagle on a hole.

“You’re not tempted as much to be as aggressive as you were in the past,” Furyk said. “Every hole used to tempt you to be aggressive. Now you have to pick and choose your moments and do that wisely.”