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VERIZON HERITAGE

April 14, 2006

Fred Funk

HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Fred Funk, after sitting at 8 under for two rounds. Fred, your 14th straight cut here at Hilton Head. Must have something to do with that driving accuracy of yours.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, obviously the golf course is more of a position golf course. I've always been comfortable here playing and had pretty good success here. I guess that and just enjoying coming here and having a great week. To me, it's one of the top three tournaments on Tour for me. I always like it. Hopefully it will fit in my schedule when I transition over.

TODD BUDNICK: Seems to fit a lot of the guys here.

A good start today with the hole out on No. 2.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, today was kind of a magical day. Yesterday I hit the ball really solid. I hit it exceptionally well coming in on the last 5 or 6 holes, I changed up my swing keys a little bit. And I'm always bouncing back and forth from a couple of them. It worked really good coming in, I made three birdies on the last five holes, and could have birdied them all.

Today I was great on the range and got on the golf course and none of the same keys worked. I really struggled hitting the ball solid. And then I kind of figured something out with my tee shots on the back nine, but I couldn't get my irons very solid. Typical example was 18. I had a 7 iron in. I probably could have hit an 8, but I hit a 7 iron to get over the bunker. No problem. Long was the miss, not short. I missed so bad it came back and I made a great up and down. So it was a day of really struggling with a little bit of my ball striking, but my putter was really good. It's really nice to say that, because I haven't been able to say that all year long. I think I'm 189th in putting. And normally I feel like a really good putter. And I actually switched top the law this week, and using it in competition. That's probably the biggest change, by far, making that change. I've used it before, but I abandoned it a few years ago, and only used it a couple of rounds. My son uses it every now and then and I see the success he has with it. And DiMarco is a real good friend of ours, and pretty much brain washed my kid into using it. So I decided to try it this week. And in fact I even convinced Heath Slocum after yesterday's putting exhibition. He used it today and putted pretty solid. I guess there's not a right way or wrong way to putt anymore, as long as it goes in the hole. It seems there's no stigma attached to anyone who putts any way other than conventional. There's basically no conventional way to putt anymore. It's nice to get over it and nobody goes, oh, boy, what's he doing?

Q. You mentioned keys, how many keys do you have and what do you do if you go out there and you haven't found one that fits the lock, so to speak?

FRED FUNK: I need a bigger key ring now, because I've developed so many different swing keys and keep bouncing back and forth. Usually you rely on 2, 3 that you bounce back and forth from. And for me, I've got about five right now that I kind of go back and forth with, and try to figure out what to do. Most of them are all transition thoughts, it's what to do to initiate my downswing, I don't think about my back swing at all, hopefully let it go where it's going to go. And something that allows me to be aggressive through the ball is the swing thought. I'm having a little trouble with that sometimes. I've had a lot of trouble with it here recently. But I actually thought I found it at Bay Hill. I played really good at Bay Hill, and solid tee to green at TPC. And last week at Augusta there was nothing. Yesterday was really good, then today it wasn't. That's the problem, it's been a bounce back and forth. Haven't been able it to sit on one and it always works.

Q. A few weeks ago at TPC, I heard a couple of guys compare the course at Sawgrass to this course, not necessarily totally, but a lot of stylistic things, and the way you play the course. We know what kind of success you've had there. Does this set up to your eye the same way?

FRED FUNK: The similarity of both golf courses, it's more important to be in the right position to be way, way down there. And a lot of holes are like that here and there. So that design feature, I think, is really good. And it's the one thing that can combat the length that the ball is going now. Our shorter courses, this one, Westchester, Colonial, you can go through the list, Waialae, that demanded a lot of thought off the tee and demanded accuracy off the tee, it's the length of the golf ball, it's not "Get up there and pull driver and see how far you can hit it". A lot of modern golf courses have gotten that way. And it becomes a lot more fun to play. It's not as much fun to play for me it's not as much fun to play the other ones. We're going to have both situations at Winged Foot. You better hit it a long way and really straight. Because the golf course is super, super long and tough greens. It will be interesting to see what happens there. The golf course sets up where the pro has to think where he putts it off the tee. That gives us a little more of a decision making process, creates a lot of doubt or some doubt and then it's just not get up there and grip it and rip it.

Q. You said the course really suits your eye. Are there certain holes that you really, really look forward to getting to and conversely are there some holes that you just really dread out here?

FRED FUNK: No. 3 just is one that always gives me trouble. It doesn't seem that it's that hard a hole. But it just it is for me. It's pretty straight off the tee and the second shot, the way the green sits and the bunker sits, it's an awkward looking shot.

No. 12 off the tee is kind of an illusion off the tee, you have to be further left than you think you have to be. That's always tough.

That's really about it out there. I think 15 is a great par 5. It's one that the longer hitters can really get themselves in position to go for the green, but they better hit a good shot. If you get off trouble and can't get in a good layup position, it's really a strategic hole.

Q. You said you hope this fits into your schedule when you transition over. Have you thought anymore about when that transition is going to take place for you?

FRED FUNK: I'm going to play three or four this year, and next year I'm going to start the year I'm just going to see how I'm playing. Hopefully I'm playing well enough. I should stay out here as long as I can. That's what everybody tells me. That's what I want to do. But at the same time I kind of want to go that direction, as well. I'm not positive what I'm going to do right now. I'm going to feel it out this year a little bit. I'm going to play, like I said, three or four one regular event, the one in San Antonio, and then the two majors, for sure. We'll see how it goes.

Q. You made a ton of cuts here. Is this a place you feel you should have contended more often at?

FRED FUNK: Yeah, I think yeah, if I could get my game going all four days, it would be great. I had a couple of weeks where I thought I had a really good shot. One Sunday I was leading going I birdied like four of the first five holes and then I was in the lead by a couple of shots going to six and I kind of just pull hooked this thing to stay up in a palm tree, I made triple on six, I was rattled, and then just kind of fell apart from there, finished fifth or something. I don't remember what year it was.

It's the kind of golf course issued, if I could just keep hitting on all cylinders. You still have to hit on all cylinders. You have to have the short game working. Right now it's been great getting the ball out of the hole as quick as I have the last two days, because it hasn't been a year of that this year.

Q. How committed do you think you are to the claw now, is this a long term thing, is it a couple day thing, a week thing?

FRED FUNK: The game of golf you never know. The first time I used it, I used it at Buick Flint, I don't know what year it was, four or five years ago, and I was even par the second round I think it was the second round no, it was the first round. I was even par the back nine, and it was hitting to it the last 11 holes I was 8 under, shot 64. And I said, well, I figured it out. I got 8 birdies out of 11 holes using the claw. And I said this is great. And then next day I think I got 37 putts with it. So much for finding the secret. You never know. But right now I'm putting really well with it. I made some really nice short putts, I made some real bombs with it. It's feeling really good.

Q. Is this a golf course where you think a 50 year old guy can come out here and win?

FRED FUNK: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Or a 49 year old (laughter) yeah, I do. I don't think age is a factor out here on the Tour that much. As long as you keep yourself in pretty good shape and you're healthy. That's the one thing that's been aggravating is every time I tweak something it seems like it never goes away. Last week I go in the trailer and I get worked on and I have my neck adjusted and it spasmed out and it was done. I really shouldn't have played last week. Pro Am day was the first day I felt pretty good since last Thursday. So just little things, little nagging things. That's the thing I notice more of a difference than anything out here is the age factor, if you do something it just takes longer to get over. And it's hard to play hurt. It seems like I've been playing hurt for like a year and a half now.

Q. Is this close enough for Jacksonville that you get more fan support than a regular Tour event?

FRED FUNK: No, it's pretty similar. I think I get pretty good support almost everywhere. I think a lot of guys a lot of people always say, yeah, do it for the little guy, do it for the big guy. Do it for Maryland. I think a lot of people cheer for me, because I can't overpower the golf course. I take advantage of good shots when I hit good shots. When I have good weeks, that's what I do. I think people relate to that a little. I've always had pretty good fan support. I don't have the Funk's Punks like I do at Jacksonville, but they're not allowed. They're usually pinned up after a week.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through the card, Fred.

FRED FUNK: 2, I got in trouble off the tee, and then I hit a terrible third shot into the bunker and hold it. That was a great start, went from looking at a 6 to a 4.

I birdied No. 4. I hit a 4 iron in there about 20 feet.

I bogeyed 5. Hit a terrible drive, I was in the fairway, and hit a worse second shot and bad it all added up to six shots. So it was just not a good hole.

And then 9 I hit a nice driver off the tee and had about 65 yards to the hole and hit a wedge in there, made a really nice putt from about 12 feet, ten feet.

13 I hit a little nine iron to about 20 feet and made that.

15 I laid up into the waste area and I hit a wedge from about 110 yards to three feet.

17, I hit not a very good tee shot right, bounced off the hill to the back right fringe and made about a 50 footer there off the fringe.

And up and down on 18. It wasn't a really stellar ball striking round, but it was good on the score card. 17 I putted it. I was a few inches off.

Q. You've watched Phil Mickelson through the years, how have you seen his what do you see in his evolution the last few years, and what he did last week?

FRED FUNK: I think he's just real comfortable in his skin right now. He just seems to be relaxed playing on the golf course. Once he got that first major under his belt and when he won the PGA last year, that was a huge lift for him. He just seemed in total control last week. I only watched from the 13th hole on. He was in total control of his game and his demeanor and his whole psych I was really positive. Might have been a little different if Freddie made that putt on 14. But, still, he seemed like he was just in total control, really enjoying the moment and played great and he totally won it. The biggest difference I see is that he's not he's playing his game. His game now is a little more control, a little more thought out instead of firing the guns trying to hit everything as hard as he can. He's doing a lot of strategy. The two driver system obviously is working really well. He putted really good. He is in total control right now. He's really comfortable in that environment. When you get a guy with that much talent, like Tiger, any of those Big 5 and they get comfortable and they're playing well, they're pretty tough to beat.

Q. Back to 18, the up and down, you really had that sand shot tracking toward the hole. The way things went today, you had to think that thing was going to fall, right?

FRED FUNK: I had actually after I hit it I thought I did. But the lie in the bunker was not very good. I was really pleased to have that end up where it ended up, because I didn't think I could get it that close to the hole. Then when it was rolling down by the pin I thought maybe it might break a little bit and catch the pin and go in. I was real happy with a 4 there. That was pretty tough.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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