Furyk winless, but not without confidence

• By Ryan Ballengee
• Dec 1, 2011 11:48 AM ET

Jim Furyk began the year fifth in the world ranking and fresh off a three-win season and the FedEx Cup crown. He’s now ranked 45^th and has been shutout in 2011.

With just three top-10 finishes this season, Furyk had his worst campaign since an injury-plagued 2004.

Despite the poor year, however, the '03 U.S. Open champion isn’t downtrodden. 

"I lost some confidence along the way during the year, but I didn't lose confidence in the fact that you're not going to go from Player of the Year to, ‘Oh, I can't play anymore,’" he said Wednesday at the Chevron World Challenge.

An undefeated week in the Presidents Cup helped boost Furyk mental outlook.

"You can lose it (confidence) quickly, but you have to build up some momentum, build up some time and some consistency before you gain a lot of confidence back, and I feel like I'm hopefully back on track to doing so," he said.

A valuable commodity after last year, Furyk signed a new equipment deal with TaylorMade. There was an adjustment period with the new equipment, but the biggest issue was with the flat stick.

"I was very consistently poor, I guess, for a lot of the year putting. And you can't play well if you're not knocking in putts," he said. "It doesn't matter how well you hit the ball, and it was a little frustrating and put a lot of pressure on the rest of my game.

"I think the Presidents Cup, there was still some things I need to work on and things I wasn't happy about in my game, but I putted so well there and pretty much knocked in everything, so that covers up a lot of mistakes, and when you're putting well, you're playing well.”