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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJune 14, 2007Fred FunkOAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA Q. Can you tell us about 7, 8, 9?  FRED FUNK: I was pretty upset after 9 because I played the hole really well tee to green and the irony of the whole thing I was sitting on the putting green and got there early and knew exactly what those putts were doing because I saw everybody missing it to the right and people misreading it and nobody making the putt and I got up there and did the exact same thing and hit a terrible first putt and a bad second putt and then I made one on 10 that's either going to go in the hole or off the green, probably, and that helped, and I messed up 12 where I thought I was playing the hole perfect and ended up making bogey there and hit it close on 13 and 14 and missed it. So I was a little frustrated but then 15 I made an across-the-green putt and 16 a second putt and 17 another great putt and had I made that putt on 18 it would have been great. But overall I'm satisfied and I'm actually surprised the scores -- the greens were softer today than after that rain, softer after that rain, and I thought some guys would get out there and get it today because it was a lot different today than when I was putting before the rain, the greens were like at Shinnecock before we even started. It's a tough golf course, it keeps coming at you and you make a little mistake and it can turn into a big mistake and that's what you try not to do out here. Q. Do you think the pin placement was good and the softness of the greens helped? FRED FUNK: Well, but you still only have one or two guys under par and if we had the same conditions that we had yesterday afternoon before the rain, and from what I heard the maintenance guys weren't going to put much water on them, it would have been brutal, and I would have bet nobody was going to take it under par and I'm surprised there are one or two under today. It's a very, very difficult golf course, it's hard to keep the ball in play all the time and get on the right side of the hole. You're going to have to make a lot of long second putts here, and I think everybody sees that, that's why you see scores the 7, 8, 9 overs, and it's just a typical U.S. Open, but this is the hardest golf course I've ever played. Q. What did you do with lies today? FRED FUNK: I was never in the long stuff. On 3 I had a shot, I hit in the rough on 7. And off the tee I didn't hit it in any long stuff. I hit it in the first cut three times and 18 I hit a perfect shot that ended up in the first cut and I hit a 3-wood, the longest hole and me the shortest pinch hitter hitting a 3-wood off the tee trying to keep it out of trouble. Q. How long was it at 9 and how were the bombs? FRED FUNK: The first putt at 9 was 25, 30 feet, but I was where I needed to be and I totally misplayed the first putt, and 10 was probably a good 20-footer coming straight down from the right side of the hole. How it stopped there to start with, I don't know. And then probably a 60-footer on 15 and I made a 15-footer for par on 16 and I made it from the front -- just about 2 yards, 3 yards off the green on 17, short, putting up to the hole so that was probably a good 30-footer. I'll tell you how far that pin was. Those were three really nice putts. It was only about 7 on, so about 25-footer. Q. What about the back of the course? FRED FUNK: My caddy said I made two of them on the 12th hole. (Laughter.) Q. The first tee -- FRED FUNK: Yeah, just happy birthday. Justin Leonard's is tomorrow so they better get him tomorrow. Q. Phil the next day? FRED FUNK: Phil's on -- well, it's normally Father's Day a lot of times. Q. That air horn in your backswing on 9? FRED FUNK: Right at the top of my swing there was a truck that came down and when I started trying to hit it twice and I flinched but I ended up with a good drive. Q. Do you think you might have hooked -- FRED FUNK: No, I thought it was fine but I pulled it from where I wanted it and it was way out there, I was surprised how far it got out there, it rolled a ton, but that was a unique thing that you have to deal with here at the Open, you don't have too many courses with turnpikes running through the middle. Q. When you say this is the toughest course you have ever played, and I don't want to say you're old, but you're 51 and shooting 71, is that -- FRED FUNK: Old course, old guy, good play. Q. Are you surprised? FRED FUNK: No, I'm not surprised. This golf course -- if I'm playing well I know how good I can play, and I'm more -- more enthusiastic about my back being better because it's been a struggle since March or February, whatever Cancun was, and last week is the first week I swung without any pain and this week I tweaked it on Monday but it was a lot better today. Q. Is your age kind of like par around here; it's irrelevant? FRED FUNK: Yeah, it is irrelevant. I think par doesn't know an age as long as you're playing well. If you're feeling good and you get a golf course that rewards accuracy and keeping the ball in play it's not overwhelmingly long out there, yardage doesn't seem to matter that much, there are extremely long holes, but they're not playing out of my reach, I can get to them with a reasonable club, so 15 today I hit a 6-iron in and that's 500 yards, and No. 7 I probably could have hit a 5-iron, I hit a 4, and those are two long holes that I -- and I hit a 3-wood off 12, for Pete's sake, played it chicken. Q. What were you doing? FRED FUNK: I was trying to keep it short off the bunker that's 286 off the tee and I rolled it even with that, it went out there about 290, after it stopped rolling. Q. How did your back get better? FRED FUNK: I've been stretching. Like I got on a stretching routine, a guy at home, Jerry James, senior long drive guy last year who won the senior long drive, he put me on this stretching routine and probably the first seven days when I was home before the Open qualifier to get into this, I spent about 2 and a half, 3 hours on the floor every day stretching, three sessions a day and it didn't bother me at all in the qualifier and not at all last week until I did some strength stuff work on Monday and it didn't respond to that well. Q. Talk about 5 and the birdie. FRED FUNK: What was I doing on 5? Oh, that was a par 4, I hit a 3-wood off the tee and I chipped a little 8-iron in there, the wind was blowing into our face and I hit a really nice 8-iron in there to about 7 or 8 feet behind the hole and it had a two-foot break on it and hit a nice putt. Q. Were you out of the bunker on 6? FRED FUNK: No, I was fine. It was sitting perfect. I thought I buried it. When it came in it looked like it was going to be a fried egg for sure, and it rolled backwards, so I felt lucky I had a clean lie. Q. Did you say this week you have an anniversary? FRED FUNK: Yeah, the 21st. Big month, big month, yep. End of FastScripts |
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