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MERRILL LYNCH SHOOTOUTDecember 7, 2007Fred FunkJeff SlumanNAPLES, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: We'd welcome Fred Funk from one half of the leading team right now. FRED FUNK: The larger half. THE MODERATOR: Fred, 8 under par; 64 today. Great playing by you guys. If we could just get some opening comments. FRED FUNK: Yeah, we did end up playing well. Didn't look that way after three holes. We were one over. Actually, Slu made a great putt. I had a bad second shot and he didn't hit a very good chip, and then I hit a worse putt to about, I don't know, six, eight feet past the hole and he made that coming back for bogey. Then we didn't birdie 4, didn't birdie 5, so we were really struggling. Then finally we started hitting a lot of good shots and made some really nice -- really just started hitting the ball close. We hit a lot of our birdies -- I guess we made nine birdies from there -- and I'd say six of them were inside five feet. It was a really good ball striking on mostly Slu's part. He hit a lot of great irons. I hit a couple good shots on the Par 3s on the back 9. Just ended up paying off. It's a tough format because alternate shot you never know. You only have one shot at it. It's not like super scramble or the best ball or whatever we're playing the next two days where you always have two putts at it. We only have one putt at it, so that's why it's a pretty tough format. THE MODERATOR: You hit a lot of close ones you said, but any putts stand out? FRED FUNK: I think the key putt, I think Slu said it in his interview outside, 6 he hit a nice wedge in there probably eight feet right of the hole, ten feet. I just barely limped one in the hole. That was our first putt that we made, and then he hit it close on 7. I made another nice putt after he almost aced 8. Went right by the hole, but it went by about 15 feet because it's on a slope. I made a nice putt there. So we turned -- you know, after a bad start turned into a pretty good front 9. Felt good about ourselves on the front, and then we played exceptionally well on the back. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Did you have a good feeling going into this format, though? You're a pretty accurate driver and he's a good iron player. FRED FUNK: I think we're both overall really good players. We don't have the length, and the golf course is playing really long. So I don't think either one of us really had great confidence going in that we were going to shoot this kind of number. It was more just going and see what was going to happen. After the start we had, you know, we didn't really feel down about anything, but just kept plugging along, plugging along, and finally the tide turned and we started hitting it close. Some of them -- he hit it so close a couple times that they were almost gimmes but not quite gimmes, and I almost missed them but I didn't miss them. It was pretty close. It ended up being, as far as confidence going in, no, I don't think we had this kind of expectation. Nobody does in an alternate shot. Nobody really knows what's going to happen. Q. At this point in your careers I'm sure you guys have both faced -- heard all the size jokes that there could possibly be. With the two of you teamed together, is there anything new that anyone's trying to lay on you guys? FRED FUNK: No. I nicknamed us the Mighty Midgets before it started, or the Smurfs. That's fine. I think it would be really neat if we could make a run at it on Sunday and actually win this thing. It would be pretty cool. I'm definitely the shortest hitter in the field. Slu hits it pretty good off the tee. But by no means is he long by today's standards. But to do that on this golf course the way it's playing in this format, that would be a little bit of an upset and I would really enjoy that. Q. (No microphone.) FRED FUNK: No. And we have been really good friends for a long time. I really think if I -- actually quite a few guys in this field are my best buddies on tour, but Slu is one of my closest friends on tour. DiMarco, and I good got to say Kenny Perry and Scott Hoch. When people say, Who are your best buddies on tour, that's kind of my list. JEFF SLUMAN: Am I on that list? FRED FUNK: You made the top of the list. But I tell you where Slu and I really got close was -- and I still struggle with it and I know all of us do out here on tour and probably even in the media. But when Payne died Jeff and I really leaned on each other pretty hard. It was hard to get through. Every since then I think -- there was a certain bond we had with each other because that was painful, and still is. THE MODERATOR: Jeff, get your thoughts on the round. Slow start but then you really turned it on. JEFF SLUMAN: Well, if the didn't have Fred as a partner I would probably still be on the second hole looking to make a triple bogey or something. He's the all-time great partner. You know he's going to drive it in every fairways out here, and he did. I didn't drive the ball particularly well today, but I think my iron play was -- FRED FUNK: -- spectacular. JEFF SLUMAN: Okay. And then as far as Freddy, he hit pretty much every shot where he was aiming. We got it going. He made what I felt was a crucial putt on 6. At that point we were 1-over par and we had missed a pretty good opportunity on 5. We both hit it in there close on the Par 3 and I hit a not-so-good putt. Then he rolled it in on 6 and kind of opened the flood gates. The format, you never know what's going to happen as we discussed before. You can be playing great, and in this type of format, if things don't go well from the start, you sometimes start struggling and then pressing. I think the putt on 6 and then he drove it perfect on 7 and I managed to get it in there close and he made it. Just kind of relaxed us, and it was game on from there. Q. You guys are, as you alluded to, not the Muscle Beach guys, but how much do you feel like you're giving away on a normal hole where somebody else might be hitting a certain iron in? What would you be hitting instead? FRED FUNK: I think Kenny Perry hits it 30 by us and, Bubba Watson is another 20 by him. Villegas hits it pretty far. You got buys in this field that can bomb it. The way the golf course is playing that's a huge advantage. We couldn't even think of going-- I had to use my drive on 1, and there was no way we could go for the green. JEFF SLUMAN: And they get it up on the green. FRED FUNK: And they got it up on the green using Scott Hoch's drive. You know, that's a big advantage. And then the other Par 5s they actually got on the green there, too, but they don't have Slu's sand game. His iron game, he's the best on the planet. Tiger could take lessons from you. But he -- or I say in general that, yeah, we're giving up a lot. I thought we had a drought going on, but this golf course is really playing long right now. JEFF SLUMAN: They must have tapped a resource of water that nobody knows about. FRED FUNK: Every year it's played long, but I heard two weeks ago during -- the advance guys came out and it was running pretty hard and fast. It would be fun to get these fairways really firm and fast and let ball run. JEFF SLUMAN: I'd like to see them turn the water off the last couple of days. We give up a lot, but sometimes on certain courses it really doesn't matter. This one -- FRED FUNK: This one matters. JEFF SLUMAN: It does matter. But Fred and I are probably going to have to make our hay the first two days if we're going to have a chance to win, and then kind of hang on. The scramble format, with our type of play, is probably -- where the other guys just bomb it have the bigger advantage only because -- FRED FUNK: -- they have two shots at it. JEFF SLUMAN: Yeah, they have two swings at it. This format you get a big hitter -- when I had Hank, if he pounds it into the trees you're going to be using my drives. From that aspect I think the first two days are where we need to really step it up and then see what happens on Sunday. Q. The question I had was how many times you guys hit wedges and 9-irons, 8-irons and where these guys would be hitting wedges and sand wedges today for approaches? JEFF SLUMAN: Not many wedges out there. A wedge on 7 and a wedge on 10, a wedge on 13. FRED FUNK: 11 you didn't have that far, did you? JEFF SLUMAN: 9-iron. No, I hit a wedge in there. 14, green side bunker. 15, I was kind of disappointed. I hit a 9-iron and didn't hit a very good shot there for Fred. FRED FUNK: 17 is a big disadvantage. You have to hit two really good shots to get it on that green with the wind coming in the way it was today. The longer hitters are going to have an iron into that, or some sort of rescue, hybrid. So there's not question it's a disadvantage, but you go in there and knock it in as close we did, like I said, out of nine birdies six of them were -- they weren't kick ins, but the kind of putts you should make. That's pretty good when you're alternate shot knocking the flag down six times, that's pretty good. JEFF SLUMAN: Yeah. Because you don't really -- swing-wise you get no sense of rhythm out there in the alternate shot. But, you know, I thought we really did a great job ham and egging it between us, and it takes a lot of pressure off me when I know my partner is going to be in every hole and hitting fairways in every green. Q. How did you guys play 13? Daly, everyone else in that group was trying to go up by the green. JEFF SLUMAN: Driver, sand wedge for Fred to a foot. Kind of like our chances. FRED FUNK: Yeah. They're going for the green. JEFF SLUMAN: Unless they're driving the green and knocking it in, I think 3 is still a good number. Q. (No microphone.) JEFF SLUMAN: First you got to mention the bogey putt we made for about eight feet. That was key. That was on 3. 6 I hit it in there from -- with a wedge, Par 5 to about 6 feet. FRED FUNK: Something like that. Lumped it in. JEFF SLUMAN: Fred drove it on 7 and I hit gap wedge again to three feet. FRED FUNK: Yeah. Looked like 100. JEFF SLUMAN: 8 it looked -- I hit 7-iron and it ran right over the edge of the hole. That was a goofy -- I shouldn't say goofy -- FRED FUNK: Yeah, 15 feet. JEFF SLUMAN: It was a very strange pin placement. It was right on the downslope like this going down the green. Like I said, ran right over the right edge of the hole. FRED FUNK: Wedge on 11. That was 15 feet. JEFF SLUMAN: But 8 I read it right edge; Fred read it to go left to right and I read it right to left and his caddie said straight. FRED FUNK: So I hit it straight. JEFF SLUMAN: So he hit it straight and it went in. FRED FUNK: He hit a wedge two feet on 11. I hit a 4-iron rescue, whatever you want to call it, to three feet on 12. I hit a sand wedge a foot on 13. JEFF SLUMAN: I hit it in the danger zone out of the bunker on 14 to two feet and almost missed it. FRED FUNK: You almost missed two. Q. What was the club in? FRED FUNK: Sand wedge. JEFF SLUMAN: Sand wedge out of the green side bunker and it was Par 5. Then Fred hit another beautiful 4-iron/hybrid on 16 to seven feet. FRED FUNK: It was longer than that. That was about a 12-foot putt you made at least. JEFF SLUMAN: Really? FRED FUNK: Yeah. It was a good putt. JEFF SLUMAN: And then 17 I hit a chip shot from 15 yards short to four feet. FRED FUNK: Yep. Q. (No microphone.) FRED FUNK: Well, no. We were friends long before that. We played many tournaments together. He broke into my apartment in Orlando. We go way back. I mean that in jest. He got there before me and he was like, I'm just going to lift the window open. JEFF SLUMAN: I forgot about that. FRED FUNK: We go way back. There are certain guys that you really get close to out here on the tour, and we're one of them. We're the couple, one of the couples. JEFF SLUMAN: If you don't like Fred then you don't like humanity, because he's one of the greatest guys in the world. He's had his ups and downs, but you just have to take really take your hat off to how well he's played and continues to play throughout his career. He's like my idol, you know. I played with him earlier this year the first couple days in Mexico and he ended up winning the tournament. Just got down the middle on the green and you could just tell it was going to be his week. I'm a year younger than him, but I'd like to hopefully continue to have the success that he has. You look at his work ethic and great family man. You'd just like to model your whole being around him. Q. I don't know how they finished up, but Rod and Jerry were one or two shots back I think coming in. Defending champions. FRED FUNK: They like each other and they like the way they play. Again, in the alternate shot, to shoot an 8-under is really good. I don't think any score really surprises you, whether it's really low or a poor score you're like, I can see how that can happen in the alternate shot. You have a tendency, especially in the scramble format everyone is going to make a lot of birdies, and in the best ball certainly should make a lot. But you can understand how things can go kind of -- as a golfer out there you can see how sometimes this format is really a struggle. Q. (No microphone.) FRED FUNK: I don't know. I'd have to look. I've had a different partner every year, but I can't remember shooting 8-under every year. JEFF SLUMAN: Hank and I somehow always seemed to play pretty well in the alternate shot format. FRED FUNK: Also it's a format that really takes -- even though it's a pressure you're expectations are different. I don't know, if you play great and get it rolling it seems that you can roll with it; whereas in the other formats you need to shoot low and the pressure is on and you got to make it and make the birdies. Alternate shot it's not like you're expected to go out there and shoot 8-under. Like tomorrow with the scramble you're supposed to shoot 18 under. So your expectations change a little bit and that kind of relaxes you. JEFF SLUMAN: I would also say that I think the scores are a little higher. I missed the first part of Freddy's conversation, but didn't you think that we've seen pins you've never seen before out here? Much more difficult pins I thought overall today than we've seen in impressive years. Q. (No microphone.) FRED FUNK: We're competitors and it's what we do. You always want to play well, so you're going to put self-imposed pressure on you. You don't want to play poorly for your partner. You still want to put yourself in contention to win. And the nerves are still there. When it comes Sunday and you're no contention to win, it's not just a little fly-by-night, weekend stroll down a golf course. It's competition. You want to win it. There's a lot pride at stake and you're going feel the heat. I think you feel a little bit more heat when you're playing for somebody else, not just yourself. When you're playing with a partner. JEFF SLUMAN: Last thing I want to do is play poorly because I know Fred is playing well or I'm going to have to buy him dinner once a week for the entire year next year as payback. It's just kind of one of those things. You start week and say you're going to go out there and wing it and have fun and that, but it's just human nature. If you start playing well and you're in contention the pressure builds a little bit. FRED FUNK: He'll reminded me and I'll reminded him. And we're out here just having fun. I don't think we're going to go more than about one or two holes and not be able to remind each other we're out here having fun. THE MODERATOR: All right guys, we appreciate it. End of FastScripts |
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