PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2002

Fred Funk

FRED FUNK: I just -- it was tough. Obviously, we kind of got the bad end of the draw there with the weather coming in last night, because it played really difficult coming in, and I played really difficult coming in, myself, because I struggled with every swing and every shot. I was very fortunate there, on 5, when I missed the green, my first short shot of the day, I missed the green in the left in the rough and I decelerated on it and hit a bad chip. My thought on 7 was I had a pretty bad lie and I had no angle to the pin, so I just said, let's just make sure I make 6 or have a shot at 5, but get it on the green and not decelerate. So I hit it harder than I wanted to, but obviously, it turned out really good. 8 was playing really hard and I probably had too much club there. And then 9 -- I didn't hit a very good shot at 8. And then 9, I hit, I guess, an up-shooter on the tee. I thought I hit it a little better than that, but it didn't go anywhere, and I hit a bad lie in a bare spot out there, and I couldn't hit a 3-iron out of it; that's what I wanted to hit it, to run it up to the front. Because, Mark, my caddie, said you didn't want to be long on that hole where the pin was; short was better than long. I tried to bunt the 4-wood. I hit it perfect, but it went over the green and that left me a tough shot -- or tough putt off the back fringe. And I almost putted off the green and made that. So, it was very fortunate how I finished. I just know it's going to be really hard the rest of the day for everybody.

FRED FUNK: Well, the gusts I hit on 9 off the tee had to be, who knows, a four-club wind or something because it went up and the ball just started flaring up and it never went anywhere, and the same with Wayne's drive. We were figuring about a two-club wind, at least, on 8. But when I got over it, the wind didn't feel like it was gusting like it was and I was already committed hitting this punch 3-iron, and I took a little off of it in the middle of my swing and pulled it a little bit, but at the same time, I know I didn't want to go right with it because of the water over there. I ended up in a tough spot. I short-sided myself. With these lies around the greens, you can't short-side yourself very often and get away with it. I've gotten away with it a few times this is week, especially on 7, but I didn't on that hole.

FRED FUNK: I actually had a little yip stroke on it, I think, because I was over it, I always have my putter probably a quarter inch from the ball when I'm addressing it, and I was committed to my line but -- at one time, I wanted to look up again to look at it again and I said no, I'm going to go, and my putter was already moving, it was kind of wiggling forward towards the ball and I said stop and I yanked it back and started the stroke. I don't know where that came from, and I still made it. It was kind of a weird little deal there. I really -- my thought on that putt was just make sure I hit it hard enough to get to the hole. The greens are a little stickier, and they are not rolling out like they were, from the moisture that's in them now. Really surprised me on No. 6 when I had a pretty long birdie putt on that hole and I left it four or five feet short. That shocked me there how slow that putt was.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, I'm still trying to just enjoy this whole moment here. It's going to be really brutal out there. It's going to take a lot of really good, solid, ball-striking to score well. The guys that play well this afternoon are going to have to putt really well, I think, and hit the ball really solid and be committed to your shots. That's easier said than done when it's this blustery out there. The one good thing is the moisture in the fairways, at least the fairways are holding a lot better than they were, but on the bad end, it's playing a lot longer. Now it's playing its true 7,300 yards or whatever it is, and that doesn't play into my game too good. But I'll go out there -- par would be, I would think a miraculous score in the afternoon. I think that would be just something really special.

FRED FUNK: It definitely gave me a little shot of adrenaline there. That was a two-shot swing on that one chip. What was ironic about it, the third shot into 7, it was the same club and the same shot I was trying to hit into 6, and 6 was perfect. I aimed it right there and it landed -- I probably hit it within two feet of where I was looking at on the green. I was trying the same shot and I just came right up and out of it and I hit it thin, missed it off to the right. That's the shot or the kind of shot that the wind shows what it does to it because I hit it so weak that the wind just grabbed it and blew it off to the right and it had nothing on it and I short-sided myself again. So, I was a little frustrated with that. The tee shot there was very difficult, too. When I made the chip, first of all, it was disbelief because you just can't believe it went in as fast as it did. That's just something that doesn't happen very often. That's almost -- well, not quite like it, a Lowery at The INTERNATIONAL, but it felt like it at the time.

FRED FUNK: Well, when I was explaining, the third shot was the same shot I had into 6, almost the same wind. Well, it was more left-to-right, but it was still hurting a little bit. I was just trying to punch a 6 in there. I lost it to the right, so I had more rough to carry than I had green to work with, and I didn't have any angle. The ball was sitting really in some thick stuff, so I decided just be committed to hitting it, accelerate through the shot so it would just dump in front of me. There was so much rough in front of me. If I left it in there, I probably would have made an easy 7. That's the last thing I wanted. I already made my mistake, and so I was ready to take my medicine and walk off with 6 at the time, and mentally, that's where I was at, just have a shot at 5, make 6, get out of here and go on, but I turned it into a 4. So, it was no question, a two-shot swing.

FRED FUNK: Oh, what was it, 15 yards, 20 yards at most. I'm not sure. 20, at most.

FRED FUNK: Well, 16 is going to be -- got to be the one. I would think, going into the wind, it's got to be straight into the wind if it's coming out of the north, I'll check, but there's just no margin for error on that hole. It's tough. That hole will be straight in off the tee and a little bit out of the left on the second shot, so once it turns out of the north -- if it turns out of the north, it will be a right-to-left wind. So it's going to be a tough hole, regardless with this kind of wind. If it's straight into the wind, you've got to hit it pretty solid -- you've got to hit it solid to carry the water there, at this point. -- or I do, I should say.

FRED FUNK: All right. Between now and the tee time, I'm going to get something to eat and then go to the fitness trailer and get my body stretched out a little more. I'll do my typical routine. Usually two hours before my tee time, I'll go to the fitness trailer and spend an hour there and an hour on the range and then go tee off. As far as my past, I was a paper boy from the time I was 18 and my route manager asked me to be his relief driver -- for the Evening Star at the time -- on the weekends, they had a morning edition on Saturday and Sunday. I went to work at one in the morning and got off at 10:00 in the morning, after dropping the papers and doing all the complaints. I did that from 11th grade -- I guess I started when I was 17, 11th grade through college. It was a really good job. At the time, it was paying six dollars an hour and when I finished, it was eight dollars an hour and that was big money back then. They went out of business soon after that, but Washington Post took them over -- or not took them over, they just ran them out of town, basically. I wasn't happy about that. We had a better newspaper. (Laughter.)

FRED FUNK: I'm just happy to be done with that second round and get it in the books. I'm done with it and move on. This third round is going to be a completely new chapter, but a completely different chapter with what's happening this week. The golf course is totally different from what it was yesterday and the first day. I think now it's going to favor the guys that are really hitting the ball really solid and the guys who are hitting it longer, and that's fine. I came in here, I'm set on enjoying what I'm doing. If I go out there and I shoot 65 or 85, I'm going to still enjoy this moment out there and this week, and have a good time with it. I'm not going to be -- I'm not going to let myself get disappointed if I don't play well on the weekend. It's been a great time. My most memorable major I've ever had; it's been great. The fans have been great to me. It's just been a blast. So I'm having a lot of fun. I'm just intent on -- if I'm out there making a bunch of bogeys or doubles in a row, I'm going to try to keep a light-hearted attitude about it and say, well, maybe a lot of other guys are doing the same thing. It's going to be really tough. Obviously, you're going to have to work on your patience and your attitude out there. If you're attitude gets bad, no matter how you're playing -- if you're playing really poor and you have a bad attitude on top of it and you have a lot of golf yet, it's probably not going to suit you too well finishing this golf course off. It will finish you off, I guarantee it.