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AT&T NATIONAL

July 3, 2008

Fred Funk

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

Q. Mixed bag for you?
FRED FUNK: Yeah, I played really well. I screwed up No. 6 and I had something that's never really happened to me. On 18 tee, I had a dragonfly hit my shaft on the way down and I just totally flinched and hit it 150 yards off the tee dead right in the trees and ended up making bogey there. That was a little upsetting.
I played really well. I hit the ball extremely good, especially with my irons and I had a lot of chances and I seemed to always be on defensive side of the hole where I had these breaker downhillers, and I couldn't be aggressive with them.
So I'm really pleased with the way I hit my irons and played overall, so things are looking up.

Q. Couple of birdies off the bat, how much does that help your confidence coming in?
FRED FUNK: Well, it's nice to get off to a great start. I hit it close on 1 and made a nice putt on 3 and then had one of those like 10-, 12-footers on 4, but it was such a fast downhill, sidehill putt, I was lagging it; and if it goes in I was lucky. That seemed how the day went and I just gave it all back on 6. I drove it in the rough and laid up okay, but I missed the green with a 9-iron and then missed the putt.
So it was a little discouraging to do that but I played well. Overall, I hit extremely good irons all day, and we've been working on that as of the last two days on this new type of shot and it been working.

Q. How is the golf course playing? I know it's not U.S. Open rough, but Congressional still can bite you.
FRED FUNK: Yeah, it's not U.S. Open rough, but it's plenty thick enough. I played with Hunter and I was in it a couple of times and seemed like when I get in it, it's just in the very first part and it's deep. Hunter had a couple shots, and as strong as he is, couldn't get them out either.
It's plenty long enough. You can get fortunate. It's not so long that every now and then you can get a really good lie and get it on the green. I saw that on the Pro-Am yesterday a few times with me. It's still a great, hard golf course.
You know, you have holes like 6, 10 and 11, and then 9 is one of those holes that's a par 5 where you know you've got to hit the fairway or you know you're going to have a long third shot in or you're in trouble if you miss the fairway right off the gait and it's not an easy fairway to hit. It's a golf course that really rewards you if you're driving the ball well.

Q. What do you know about Steve Marino?
FRED FUNK: Yeah, I've gotten to know him, and he's a really good guy. Obviously he's been playing really well this year, too. He's good. I don't know that much of him, but I can say I know him enough to call him a friend.
It's always neat to have a local guy here playing in a tournament and playing well. It's exciting for us locals and outside of yesterday, every week, there's a local guy or a few, some contingent of guys in the field that are from that town. You know it's a big deal for those guys, and you want them to play well and get the crowd behind them; that's pretty neat.

Q. No. 6 seems to be the worst of all worlds. Where does that rank?
FRED FUNK: Well, I don't think it's a good par 4. I think it's a really good par 5 from playing it all the way back. You know, let the long hitters go for it if they want and it's just not a hole that was -- the green is not designed for what we are coming in on.
For the real long hitters, you know, they are going to have an all right shot at it, but it's a one-dimensional hole. If you hit the fairway and you're a long hitter, yeah, you can get your shot to fit in there. The shorter hitters are going to have a long, long shot in there with a green that's really designed for a wedge and a short iron in there.
I don't like their mentality with that hole. I think it's just pretty down right stupid actually but they want par; par is a relevant number. It's a pretty tough par 70 out there, that's for sure.

Q. What was the secret?
FRED FUNK: Well, none. It's no different to any other week. You've just got to play golf. At this particular golf course, you've got to play extremely well off the tee. You can't miss the fairways here and expect to be doing anything. At least not four days in a row.
One day you can get by and maybe be getting it up a few times or be getting some good lies but you've got to drive it in the fairway and position your ball and these greens are tougher than you might think. They are up to pretty good speed right now and they have plenty of break. If you get on the wrong side of the hole you're on defense immediately and you really can't make runs at them.
Hunter made a mistake on 14 where he drove it in the rough. He had, it looked like it was going to be a routine up-and-down, and he bumped-and-ran it past the hole about ten feet and he 3-putted from there.
So you get a little careless and all of the sudden you make double; that's what I did on the hole and that's what Hunter did on the hole. You've got to keep your wits about you and it's a major venue. You've got to play well.

Q. What about if you and Steve are both up there near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday, any border war stuff, Maryland, Virginia?
FRED FUNK: That's what I was going to say, I think we'll have a little border war; we'll be the North and the South.

Q. How difficult is it trying to play both tours?
FRED FUNK: Impossible I'm finding out. Not impossible but it's very difficult. The problem with it is I feel like I've got to play good every week I'm out, no matter whether it's the Champions Tour or here. I don't ever seem like I have a week off, or a laid back week, because the heat's on. You can't really achieve too many goals. I got stuck in limbo and this year I didn't have my health, with my knee, it was pretty bad early and I'm coming back with that.
You know I got off to a great starter early in the year and I got caught up in trying to figure out where to play and trying to deal with the knee and it got to be very difficult.

End of FastScripts

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