In a tournament for major winners, Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk are living on past glories.

Padraig Harrington has won two this year, the British Open and the PGA Championship, Trevor Immelman won the Masters, and with Tiger Woods, the US Open champion, once again missing the Bermuda event, Goosen and Furyk have been drafted in to make up a foursome for the most elite tournament on the golfing calendar.

But far from just making up the numbers, Goosen and Furyk, both past winners of the US Open, are hoping to end their respective seasons on a high.

For Goosen, 2008 has been, in his own words 'a miserable year'. The South African has failed to win a single tournament on either the European or PGA tours, and yet he has done enough to make more than a dent in the European Tour Order of Merit, and the PGA Tour money list.

Without a win, however, the season has taken on a rather dour look for Goosen, and while he is delighted to be in Bermuda for the first time, he isn't expecting too much from the next couple of days.

"It's not been a great season, really, performance-wise. I had one good event, the WGC-Doral, where I had a chance to win. Otherwise, it's been a miserable year. Hopefully, we can turn it around next year," he said.

"It (my season) has been a couple of good events and a lot of bad events. There's been a lack of consistency. One week, you drive it well, the next week you don't. My putting also hasn't been as good as it should be. If you putt well and putt consistent throughout the year, you can score.

"I never expected to be here not winning a major. It's nice being here but it's not as nice being here having won a major. But I'm looking forward to the next couple of days of tough competition and we'll see what we can do."

Like Immelman, this is Goosen's first time in Bermuda and before yesterday's Pro-Am he hadn't really had a chance to look at the Mid Ocean course.

"My caddie Colin (Byrne) has walked the course and he said there are a few tricky holes, a few tricky dogleg holes," said Goosen "Shaping the golf ball is going to be important and obviously, it looks like it's going to be windy the next couple of days, so it's going to be a really tricky course. The greens are quick."

Goosen yesterday at least had the chance to look at the course, something that Furyk failed to do last year, flying in the night before the tournament began and playing the course blind.

It wasn't a mistake he was about to make twice.

"I approached it a little different this year," he said. "I came here this year with my family to relax. Last year, I kind of rushed in from Korea. I didn't get here until Monday night and didn't tee it up until Tuesday and Wednesday.

"This week, I got here Friday. I've been enjoying the beach, the pool, the bar. I really just hung out and had a good time. I didn't really make golf the focal point. Now, I'll get busy and try to play some good golf.

"Obviously, the wind's going to be a factor. The greens here are going to be a factor. There's a lot of slope on them and it's tough to keep the ball below the pin. In order to attack the pins, you have to keep the ball on the fairway, which on some holes isn't a huge deal but on some holes – like 10 – it's sometimes almost impossible to hit the fairway.

"Putting the ball on the fairways is key here, otherwise you won't be able to attack any of these pins from the rough. It's not an overly long golf course, so for me, it's putting the ball on the fairway and giving myself a short iron chance to put the ball on the green. If you're hitting the ball in the rough, then you're looking at a chance to shoot even-par here."