U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 2, 2008

Fred Funk

FULLAUDIOINTERVIEW

Q. Fred, good stuff, how was the play for you compared to yesterday, were you sitting where you want?

FRED FUNK: Well, I'm not sitting where I want, but I played great on the front nine. The golf course was playing -- the pins were a little easier than we were yesterday and the greens were a little softer. So the USGA, they went out there as a staff and softened it up a little bit and made sure that it didn't just bake out on the back nine or in the afternoon like it did yesterday or the afternoon guys.

They did a good job setting up the golf course and obviously there was some really good scores, and that just shows that this course rewards good play, and that's the way it should be.

For me I played great on the front and I didn't play that great on the back, and I shot the scores -- that was indicative. I shot a really good, solid 4-under on the front and got what I deserved on the back, about a 3-over.

You know, that's the way I think the course should play. You'd better make some putts if you're hitting a little bit crooked out there, and it's hard to make those putts.

Q. How big was that last one?

FRED FUNK: That was big. I wanted to get in the last group. I saw that Cookie birdied the last hole and I saw that me missed, we're tied and he's in the last group and I wanted to play with Eduardo. I like playing with Eddy, even though he outdrives me by a hundred yards. It's actually easier to play with a guy that drives it that far because there's never a chance that I'm going to outdrive him so you don't even try.

He's a great guy, he's easy to play with and I wanted to be in the last group.

Q. Can you talk about the energy between the two of you? You two were having as much fun as anyone on the course. You're playing well. I'm sure that's part of it, but the two of you have a lot of energy.

FRED FUNK: I'm determined to go out there and have a good time. I'm playing good. And I'm playing good enough to have fun. The golf course is playing hard. It's one of those where you can get yourself in some situations. You can't really get mad at yourself. It's just the way the golf course is.

If you hit it a little loose, you can't expect to be in too good of a shape and you just kind of ride out the good and the bad out here. There's a lot of opportunities for birdies if you're playing well, and I'm playing well, so I feel like you know when I hit my good shots, I'm going to make some birdies and I did, early.

The only hole I really regret is that birdie putt I had on 15 that I missed. That was a biggy, because I thought it was a little momentum-switcher, and I didn't know whether he was going to miss his, but I thought maybe I could get a little two-shot swing, a little match-play type situation and I couldn't have had an easier putt, straight up and in and I missed it.

That was the one time I got really mad at myself out here and I went on and miss-clubbed on 16 and then 18 was almost -- I'm really pleased. That made me feel really good. That kind of made dinner taste a little better to make par out of that, because I drove it left and I told Mark -- my caddie, I said," I'm far enough in there, I'll probably have a good lie," and I had the worst lie I've had all week in the rough, and I couldn't even move it. I just was trying to get it to the fairway and didn't get it to the fairway which real fortunate to do to make that birdie.

Q. Something like on 18, is z that erase, or happen on 15, or does it just get better?

FRED FUNK: No, 18, I'll remember 18 a lot better than I will 15. I played really good overall. I just hit a couple drives that ended up in bad spots, and the way they design these bunkers here, they are flat bunkers, meaning they are flat sand areas, and the mounds around it, you know, all of the mound around the sand, that defines the sand is all that real long grass. Seems like every time I've missed a fairway this week into the high stuff, other than 18, that's where I've been. I've been in the high stuff with real awkward lies around the sands and it's just really difficult to do anything with it.

I've been fortunate that I've actually made some pars out of some of those lies.

Q. When you said you liked playing with Eduardo, what about playing with him do you like? He's very quiet and kind of a contrast to the way you play, kind of no nonsense.

FRED FUNK: He's one of those guys that it's just impossible not to like Eduardo. He's just a great guy. It seems like all of the Argentinians and South American people that I know, you know -- I'm drawing a blank now, but Carlos Franco, and Angel Cabrera they are all great guys. And Eduardo is probably the nicest of them all. It's just a little bit of a language barrier, but good golf and playing golf is a universal thing.

Q. On 8 before the drive, what were you talking about?

FRED FUNK: The tee shot on 8?

Q. Yeah, you guys had a long delay.

FRED FUNK: I asked him where he hit it yesterday. And he said he hit it the to back of the green and 2-putted. I was like, "How did you 2-putt that?" He said he made about a 12-footer coming back or something.

That's one thing we were talking about. I don't know what else we were talking about but that was probably it.

Q. What did you say to each other after the 18th when you walked up to each other and shook hands?

FRED FUNK: I just said great laying to him in there, and inside in the scorer's trailer I said I really wanted to make that one because I wanted to play with you tomorrow. He just laughed and shook my hand and said, you know, "good," whatever that meant. (Laughing).

Q. What's it going to take to win this championship?

FRED FUNK: We've got to play really solid golf. This golf course, I think the key is the group of guys that go out on the front nine and play good, like a lot of guys did today, because that's where you have to get it. You've got to get it on those first nine holes and then it's just hold on.

10 through -- oh, I think 18 is even a hard hole. I think the only somewhat let-up hole, and I don't want it to jinx me tomorrow, is 16 is somewhat of a let-up hole on the whole back nine.

17, you've got to hit the fairway and 18 you've got to hit the fairway and that's what makes those two holes really hard, and there's some really good driving holes in that stretch.

I think 13, 14 and 15 are really awkward driving holes for everybody. It's really hard to fit it in there now. Eduardo is long enough that he can fly a lot of those bunkers and are a lot more open. I have to squeeze in between. That's one advantage to a couple of those holes. The back nine is tough. I don't know what the difference is in the scoring average, but it's got to be huge between those two nines, for the week.