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VERIZON HERITAGEApril 12, 2007Fred FunkHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA FRED FUNK: It's a great golf course, position golf course. It's a lot of fun, a great place to be. Q. Some great iron play by you on the back side? FRED FUNK: Yeah, I got a little zeroed in. The short game was good, attitude was good, everything was good. Q. And a gorgeous day to be playing? FRED FUNK: Yeah, it was nice. I think we got a little break on the tee time because I think it's supposed to blow pretty hard this afternoon. It gets blowing out here and swirling in the trees, you get a little guesswork out there. There's some places you don't want to be out there, especially on these par 3s. Q. How much is there to be learned over the years here? Is this a course you have to learn to play? You've been here a lot of times, not many first-timers do real well here. This is a course you have to learn, isn't it? FRED FUNK: Yeah, a couple times around it you learn it. Every now and then you hit a shot, you go, geez, I thought I was okay and I'm blocked by a tree line. You've got to be careful. There's a lot of things -- I got surprised today on 11, how close that tree was to the front right pin there. I actually hit the green. I stuck one to about three feet and got lucky anyways. But the tree was right there. I was coming in with an 8-iron. You've got to be a little careful. You've got to be guarded. There's a little different winds than you normally have here sometimes. It's a course where you've got to have control of your golf ball. Q. Kind of talk about today's round. FRED FUNK: I was real pleased. I played real solid. I just enjoyed myself, had a good group. I just really enjoyed playing here. It's a golf course that rewards good play, and I got rewarded. I played real solid today. Q. You got out in the morning before the wind started swirling. Are you happy with the score you posted early? FRED FUNK: Yeah, if I can average 67 every day, I'll be doing really good. I might be near Tiger. Well, I don't know, he's averaging probably 66. It's really good. You can make a living shooting 67. Q. How much more relaxed are you out here in this setting? FRED FUNK: Well, golf is still golf, competition is still competition. You've still got to concentrate on what you're doing. It's just not the anxiety level that Augusta is. Every shot, mainly because of the greens, is just so slopey and you've got to be so careful and so precise, it gets a little frustrating. Little shots got real easy out there, and you saw that the way I played on Friday, and mainly Saturday last week -- I missed the cut, but Saturday watching on TV, I thought they lost a little control of the golf course, and then Sunday they made it a lot more playable for the guys. It was still tough but a lot more playable. Q. I want to ask you not only about this tournament but the Senior PGA. FRED FUNK: I'm not playing at Kiawah. The problem is I'm more committed with playing on the regular Tour than the Champions Tour right now, and I'm trying to just go where it fits. The problem is Colonial is opposite that, which is one of my favorite events. Right now I'm leaning on playing Colonial. Until yesterday I was totally committed to playing Colonial. So now I've actually got a little glimmer because they said they had paspalum grass up there that they put in, which is a saltwater grass, that I'm two for two on. I won the Turtle Bay one and I won the Mayakoba in Cancún on the same grass, so it would be nice to go there and win that. I've got to talk to my caddie and my wife and my manager and everybody and kind of decide exactly what I'm going to do. My schedule is really up in the air. Q. Who's your inspiration for doing this, sort of trying to play on both tours? FRED FUNK: Nobody. It's my own. I have the luxury of an exemption that allows me to play for a while, and I won this year. My best years have been since I turned 45 and 46, and I need to get better. I feel like I've still got a lot of room for improvement, and I just want to see how long I can stay competitive out here. Most guys are trying to play in their late 40s just to get ready for the Champions Tour, and I'm trying to just see how long I can stay competitive and play out here. At the same time I really feel when a guy from the Champions Tour comes out and plays really well out here, it validates the Champions Tour a little more, Loren and Jay Haas and Tom Watson played great at Pebble, and any of the guys that come out, I really think Hale Irwin could still win out here, he's in such good shape and such a good player and such a great competitor. I don't think age is that big a factor. Just because you turn 50, I don't think you need or have to go over; it is nice over there, I really, really enjoy it over there, more so than I thought I would. But at the same time I've just got to -- I've got this burning desire to just see how long I can last out here. Q. You love to be competitive; you think you're very competitive -- FRED FUNK: I think anybody who plays at the highest level at anything, whether it's the corporate world or sports world, is very competitive. I think to get to the top level at whatever you're in, you're a very competitive person, and that's what drives you. I don't think you can say there's a guy that's playing well at a high level in any field that's not a competitive person. That's the way I kind of answer that one. Q. Do I understand your family travels with you? FRED FUNK: Every week. My wife home schools the kids, and we're just a great team. It works out great. That way, as much as I play, I have to do that or else I wouldn't see my family at all. End of FastScripts |
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