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SONY OPEN IN HAWAIIJanuary 9, 2008Fred FunkHONOLULU, HAWAII DOUG MILNE: Fred, thanks for joining us here at the Sony Open in Hawai'i. I guess you've played here every year it looks like since '89 other than '96 and you've had a couple of Top 10s. FRED FUNK: I wonder why I didn't play '96. I skipped a year. DOUG MILNE: But anyway, obviously you're still playing some great golf on both Tours. You won here last year at Turtle Bay and then in Mexico in '07. Just a couple general comments assessing the state of your game coming off the break and jumping back into the '08 season. FRED FUNK: I'm actually playing better now than I was last year at this time, a lot better actually. I'm looking forward to playing. My body is a lot healthier. I just look forward to playing now. Regardless of what happens this week, it's not really a barometer. I just feel like there's a lot of good things happening. Last week wasn't that great a week score-wise, but I took a lot of good things out of it. I did notice that I was by far the shortest guy last week, and it was due to three smother-hook drives on 15, which was one of the distance holes. But I was closer to the hole than anybody in the field. I knew I was hitting my irons pretty good, but I just stumbled onto that stat, wasn't even looking for it. I threw up "proximity to hole" and I was almost two yards closer than anyone else, and I'm hitting three, four, five times more club than anyone else. I think that was a good indication that my iron game was really good. I didn't obviously putt as well as I needed to, and I hit a lot of greens; I was 6th in greens. I was real pleased last week overall with my game. I felt like I was actually putting pretty good but nothing was going in. And actually I felt like I putted the best I've ever putted there (laughing). That's not saying that much because I haven't putted that good there before. Q. Playing as well as you feel like you're playing now, does that factor into how you're going to set your schedule? FRED FUNK: The beginning of my schedule is pretty locked. I'm going to play 15 to 17 out here depending on what I qualify for in the majors because I'm not exempt for any of them. And then at least 12 on the Champions Tour, 13 I think on the schedule. Right now it's 13 out there pretty locked up, and 15 out here. I'm basically cherry-picking a lot more, trying to pick courses that are more suited for my game or where I've got a good history. I've never really done that. Actually when I went through the schedule, it was actually pretty hard to pick 15 events that were good for my game. A lot of the golf courses now are pretty good bombers' -- there's more advantage for hitting it long than hitting it accurate on a lot of these courses. For me when I have a course like this one where you have the high rough and narrow fairways and I'm playing well, then I can compete. Q. Of your eight PGA TOUR victories, what would you say is the one where you had no business winning do you think, as we talk about cherry-picking? Any of them? FRED FUNK: No, because I really think I've had a good history at THE PLAYERS and people would probably throw that one out. I think if you look at my schedule, they would say, why did he win that one? Or at my history. But that golf course is one that's always favored good ball-striking, and that particular week I led in greens in regulation and fairways, and I wasn't that high up in putting. It wasn't like I putted lights out like I did at Turtle Bay and Mayakoba. I can't really -- for the way I hit it at Mayakoba, especially Saturday and Sunday, that's when my back started to go, I probably didn't deserve to win that one. But I just -- I was on fire with my putter and it didn't really matter. So the putter makes up for ills. But golly, going back in my history of the ones I've won, they've all been on golf courses that reward guys keeping it in the fairway, I think all of them. Jackson, Mississippi, is actually one that I've won twice, and I look at the golf course and it's really a bombers' paradise, and I've done well there more than I've done poorly. That might be one that you would look at and go, you know, I don't know, that was maybe an upset except for my history there. The setup of the golf course doesn't really make sense that I've done that well there. Q. Can you think of another -- is it possible on any Tour anywhere in the world that you have consecutive weeks this close together where two golf courses could not look less alike? FRED FUNK: They don't look anything like each other. There's really no golf course like Kapalua that we play anywhere on the TOUR. But I think the more I play it, the more I -- and I've played it a lot. I think Crenshaw did a phenomenal job with the land that he had. He made a golf course that's very playable in very adverse conditions, and you can score. It rewards good play when you're playing well. Every year it gets proved because we usually get a least one day of bad weather, and Thursday and Friday wasn't great. So I think it's a tribute to the golf course and the design of the golf course that you can go out there in 35 mile-an-hour winds and keep the ball in play and still score and realize that usually the guy that's hitting the ball the best is going to get rewarded there. You do have to figure out how to putt those things, but there's a lot of room to hit it, and it does favor long hitters, but you don't necessarily have to be long to play well there I don't think. Q. You mentioned it's harder for you to compete out here now because of the courses and trying to cherry-pick what you're going to take. Other players have kind of voiced that that are a little younger than you, but yet the TOUR still goes to venues where length is really an issue and people have to hit the ball long. Have you talked to Tim at all or have you guys tried to voice an opinion on this? FRED FUNK: No, but when we do go to a new golf course, very seldom are they the old traditional ones that have been there for years. The new golf course designers are so scared of the technology that's out there now that they're designing a lot of length into the golf courses, and that's just the trend. That's where they're heading. They feel like that's what they need to do to defend par with the technology of the game and the athleticism of these guys out here. And yet when you interview you guys as writers and you interview us as players, the best holes on TOUR are like the 10th hole at Riviera and the great short par-3s, holes that in my mind that if you give the best players in the world a lot of options off the tee and they've got to think, do I be aggressive -- 15 at Hartford, great hole, huge numbers; you can make triples, you can make eagles, across the board, span of numbers there. But you're giving guys a lot of options, a lot of thinking, and that's when a lot of things happen. It's really neat. It's just not 500-yard par-4s that are no-brainers, where you've got to hit driver and hit it in the fairway and hit it somewhere around the green and try to make 4 and hopefully you feel good about your par. Obviously you can't design 18 holes like the 10th hole at Riviera, but those are the holes that people remember. It's the short, great variety holes that are there. The modern designers don't seem to get it, and we're going to modern golf courses, and modern designers in my mind have kind of lost the plot a little bit because they're so scared of technology. I don't mind a 7,500 yard golf course, but give us some variety in there a little bit. You can jack the par-5s back, but why have -- the par-3s are 200 yards plus, every one of them nowadays. They're not great par-3s very often. Usually it's the shorter ones that are really good. You tweak the greens a little bit and throw water around them. At Mayakoba, Norman has a little pitching wedge par-3. It's a 120 yards -- at most it's 120 yards. You're hitting right towards the Caribbean, and the wind is just howling, but because you've got a wedge or a 9-iron in your hand and the ball is up in the air high and you're trying to do your best to keep it down, you've got to tinker with your swing, try to figure out how to control your ball flight, and very seldom does a guy hit it close on that hole. It's just a short little hole. The green is a little shallow but it's not like a postage stamp. You just take a simple hole like that and see the difficulty that the pros have on it. This golf course is one of the best golf courses I think, and probably -- I give it a redo definition. It really wasn't redone much. All they did is change two par-5s and par-4s. I know No. 2 tee and No. 8 tee are a little longer, but that there's really no room to make changes on this golf course, but it's a great ball striker's golf course. You've got to keep it out of the rough when the rough is up like it is this week, and usually the wind is blowing and that makes it much more difficult. All the fairways seem to have just a little bend, and you can hit it through or you can hit it on the short side, and a lot of trouble is there. The 16th hole is a very difficult little hole. It's not a hard hole if you hit it in the fairway, but it's sure hard to hit that fairway. Q. Are you still involved with the redo of Avenel? FRED FUNK: No, I had a little input. No, Steve Winslow asked me for a few opinions. And they actually used mine on the 3rd hole, the par-3; they moved the green closer to the creek and got rid of the back tee, just to make it a better strategic hole. But not much. I was really impressed with what they were going to do there, and if they do it properly I think it'll be a really good golf course. It'll probably never be a Congressional. Q. Is that the extent of your design work? FRED FUNK: Yeah, I haven't had hardly any. I want to get into it. I want to learn it and go out with Fazio or Nicklaus or Norman. I actually asked Norman at the Shark Shootout, "Hey, I don't take up much room, so I'll go with you if you want to teach me the business a little bit." He just kind of chuckled, meaning no (laughter). Q. Of all the mementos or souvenirs or whatever you may have, anything from Jack, and what means the most to you from all the things you've -- either experiences or actual things? FRED FUNK: I felt more honored being Jack's captain's pick than making the team on my own at the Presidents Cup. That meant a lot to me, just to think that he thought enough of me to be a part of his team. So that meant more to me than probably anything I've ever done out on TOUR. Being a part of those two teams, The Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup, were definitely the highlight of my career. Obviously THE PLAYERS I've got to throw in there with them, but win or lose, being a part of a national team was more than -- everybody can tell you it's like being a dad. You just never know how that feeling is until you experience it, and once I experienced it, it was beyond what I expected, and the same thing with being a dad. Q. Do you have anything from Jack? FRED FUNK: I've got a letter from Jack asking me to be on the team. That was neat. Yeah, that was pretty special. I got that next to the bag and the shoes and all that crap that goes with it. And the South African trip, that was the neatest trip I've ever been on, too, golf trip. That was fabulous when we went down there. Q. That was the pick year, right? FRED FUNK: Yeah, that was very special. Q. Took two guys who were combined 98 years old? FRED FUNK: Yeah, me and Jay. Q. Now you're in the field with someone who's 34 years younger than you, little Tadd, turned 17 yesterday? FRED FUNK: Is that all he is? Q. Yeah. FRED FUNK: He played in front of me in the Monday Pro-Am, and he bombs it, little dude. I was standing on the tee on 16, and I was just like, "That's good, that'll work." He has a good golf swing. He's a neat kid. I wish he didn't turn pro, but oh, well. I don't think that was -- that's different reasons, I'm sure, financial mainly. But to miss out on college golf is tough, I think. Q. Has there been much talk this week over the lynching comment? FRED FUNK: I heard it for the first time when I was ironing my clothes a half hour ago. Hopefully not. I agree with what they said on the TV. There was no intent, no ill intent at all, I think. I think it was just a slip, and they said that Tiger has already forgiven her. It was just a slip. I think when you're in the TV tower for that many hours, things are just going to -- you're going to wish you didn't say some things probably, and that was one thing that slipped out. I think you've got to give them a little grace. Her integrity, how Kelly is respected out here is pretty good. I think Tiger really likes Kelly, so that helped squash it because Tiger could have run off with that if he took it the wrong way. But he didn't, so that was good. Q. You could be in the interview room for a long time and say things you regret, you know? FRED FUNK: Yeah, I've said some things I wish I didn't say. Don't give you guys too much ammo. Q. Which tournament do you look forward to the most this year, and why? FRED FUNK: Always THE PLAYERS. It's home, huge tournament. It deserves all the recognition it's getting and building up to. Hopefully it will be a major some day, who knows. This is one of the special events, it truly is, because the guys that stay at Kahala and the family -- it's a great family week. Our kids are more excited than Christmas when they checked into the hotel. We drove up and they were out of the car before we even checked into the Sony room. It's a really neat week this week, and everybody is kind of excited to see each other. It's not old hat to see everybody. You've had a couple months off and you see your old buddies, and it's not like, "Hey, how you doing," it's "Hey, how was your off-season." So it's a little more excitement and emotion this week than normal because we're not in the normal season, in the grind yet. Really that's it. Those are the two that stick out in my mind, PLAYERS and this one. Q. Assuming that you're healthy and there's no issues and you're playing good golf, do you think that that course, the way it sets up and because of your experiences there, gives you the best opportunity to win out here now? FRED FUNK: Which one, PLAYERS? Q. Yeah. FRED FUNK: Yeah, you know what, I haven't gotten used to the firmer surfaces yet and the newer tees. I think when it matures, and hopefully this year it'll play a little more like it's normally going to play in the future, I think it's good. It's a course I'm very comfortable on, at least until you get to 17. I'm not too comfortable there yet. And 18 is so brutal. Yeah, that's probably one of them, for sure. You mean as far as like a big -- Q. Just any on the PGA TOUR, not the Champions Tour but the PGA TOUR. FRED FUNK: Right. That's one of them. I really enjoy Hartford, I really enjoy Westchester, I really enjoy this one. Riviera is one of my favorites. I haven't had good luck there. I thought Honda was a great setup last year. Unfortunately I had to withdraw. But I thought, this is perfect, this is right in my wheelhouse. It was a little long but it was tight and the wind was blowing. Par was a good number. I like going to courses where if you shoot 68 or 69 you're going to move up and you're not going to get lapped. Q. Going to the Hope next week? FRED FUNK: Well, with the new courses, yeah, par is good. It's not the Hope like it used to be anymore. Now it's "hope" you play good or "hope" you don't catch that course on a windy day. That's what the Hope is now. I heard the other course isn't that great, either. Q. Silver Rock? FRED FUNK: Yeah, Silver Rock. I like the old -- the rotation we had, and throw Tamarisk in one year. Q. You guys are the ones that changed that, you know, the TOUR. The TOUR is the one that forced them to go away from those courses. FRED FUNK: I never voted once on any of these things. Q. You're about the fifth guy you talk to that says why don't we go back to the old courses. FRED FUNK: Yeah, I bet you ask a lot -- last year everybody knew that was going to be in a wind tunnel if the wind ever blew, and sure enough, on Sunday it was a hurricane. And they've already redone the golf course. I don't know what they've done. I think they gave you a little more room to hit it in spots. Q. They've gotten rid of some bunkers and they've changed some lines off some tees. FRED FUNK: That's one thing that really upsets me more than anything is an architect will be paid millions of dollars to design a golf course and then we spend just as much money it seems to fix it. I don't get it; why can't they do it right the first time? I just don't understand that. I can understand tweaking some old ones and making them -- upgrading like we've done at Riviera and they've done a good job and other ones like that, but how much money do we spend on that course and all of our courses? Although you can say TPC, they've changed that a lot over the years. Q. Nicklaus every year changes Memorial. FRED FUNK: That's true. See, now, the way Muirfield is manicured around the creeks and everything, that's what I said they needed to do at Avenel is to make it looks like it's finished, just make it look like it's a finished product instead of overgrown grunge around the creeks and esthetically make it pretty. I think if they do that, that alone would really make it rise to a different level. But we'll see what happens. Q. There goes the maintenance budget. FRED FUNK: I know, that's true. End of FastScripts |
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