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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 31, 2009

Fred Funk

CARMEL, INDIANA

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Fred Funk. Fred shot a 5-under par 67 today. He is currently 9-under par for the Championship. Fred, I noticed that you took advantage of all the par 5s today. What would you say was going well for you in those particular holes and the round in general?
FRED FUNK: Just the pure power that I have is incredible; overpowered everything.
No, I just hit some-- actually laid up on 11. Was playing into the wind, that was my second hole, and hit a nice wedge in there. And then laid up on the other hole; hit another good wedge in there and made two nice putts on the back nine on those two.
And then, what's the first Par 5? Oh, we hit the back tee on 5 today, so that was tough to get home today. And I hit a wedge in there, another good wedge and made a nice putt. 9 I reached in two, and I was fortunate to make a good 2-putt there. So it's nice when you birdie those.
I actually said to my caddie that the heat's on on the 9th hole because I knew I hadn't had a five on my card, and I wanted to make a three or four on that hole so I didn't have any blemishes of fives or more on there.
THE MODERATOR: You mentioned earlier that you're just focused on hitting the ball as hard as you possibly can. Are there instances on such a long golf course where you're surprising yourself, putting yourself in good conditions?
FRED FUNK: Well, yeah. But just because the fairways are running so well. They're much firmer than they appear and the ball's really running out. So, if you hit the right trajectory on the ball, you know, I can get the 40 or 50-yard as roll.
I've been hitting drives -- I'm probably averaging about 290 to 310 on most of my drives today, that are either down wind or no wind; into the wind a little less.
But, you know, like 2 today, I hit a drive just hugged that left side, and it kicked down there, and I hit a 60-degree wedge in there, although I didn't take advantage of it. But, you know, I just didn't picture having that short of a club in that hole.
Actually 4 played into the wind. I hit a really good drive and could have hit a 9-iron in there. I hit a little 8. So, you know, if you can get online and avoid the trouble that's out there, you can get some short irons in.

Q. I looked it up and in '91 when you played here, that year your average driving distance was 252. Are you hitting the ball farther now because of technology or whatever, or your body building, and are you able to play this golf course now better than I were in '91?
FRED FUNK: Well, I don't remember the ball running this much in '91. For that matter, I don't remember anything of '91. I remember I was playing pretty good. I was on the board at one time, but I don't know where I finished.

Q. 57th.
FRED FUNK: 57th? Man, I must have collapsed. I was on the board.

Q. 81 the last day.
FRED FUNK: Okay, I did collapse, that's why I didn't want to remember, I guess. I didn't want to bring that up.
But, you know, I'm not hitting that ball that much -- I'm hitting it because of technology a little bit further, but I don't get that huge gain that the guys that have a lot of club-head speed get. It's just more the conditions of the fairways right now that are so good.
I don't remember it running this much during that time, so, I don't know. I'm definitely not 50 yards longer than I was back then.

Q. Not to distract from your day, but Tim Jackson, an amateur at 11-under, are you amazed by that or surprised?
FRED FUNK: No, nothing amazes me out here with -- I've been at it long enough that the guys have so much talent that nothing surprises me. High or low, one way or the other.
But great rounds are out there, and a guy gets hot. Amazing an amateur's doing that. I heard he just turned 50, and has put himself in this position, just keeps hammering down birdies. So he's doing a great job. I heard he is a great guy. I don't know him. So maybe we'll get paired together tomorrow, I don't know.

Q. Is it fair to ask you what you might have learned from this championship last year either physically or mentally?
FRED FUNK: No. I mean, it's fair to ask, I don't think I learned anything.
You know, last year I played extremely well, and I just had one of really bad swing on the 13th hole last year, and just followed mistake with other mistakes and made triple, that was the end of that.
And down the stretch it was a two-horse battle. It was me and Eduardo, and then just faltered coming down the stretch on a pretty tough hole, but actually hit 3-wood off the tee and got in trouble with it.
And whether you learn anything from that, who knows. I don't know.
What I'm trying to do this week is just not get into the mindset of trying certain shots where I'm trying not to hit a bad shot instead of hitting a good shot. I'm trying to commit to hitting good shots on every hole, and if it goes somewhere I don't want it to go, then that's this way it is. But don't try to avoid the trouble and be too defensive out there.
I got a little defensive last week on Saturday, and, basically, I lost the tournament last week because of my Saturday's play. I can live with it because it happens, but it was disappointing.
And I know I'm playing well. I know a lot of guys are playing well. And this golf course, I think, favors the long hitters. But I'm hitting it far enough. It's playing short enough for me that I know I can play well on it and be very comfortable.

Q. Does the golf course provide any advantage for straight hitters?
FRED FUNK: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I think you are going to see -- and you can see that, I think. I don't know how far down the leader board you want to go, but can go down the leader board and go 20, 25 top guys and probably see a total mix of type of players. I think that identifies how the golf course is playing.
And you'll see some short hitters, long hitters, some medium hitters, good short games, good putters. You know, guys have all different kinds of games that are still playing well and getting rewarded on this golf course. I think this is one that you will see a mix of players playing really well on it.
It won't just be like the Bethpage, especially the way it played this year. Almost everybody in the field that made the cut or in the top 20 were for sure long hitters, extremely long hitters for that matter. And you had to have that part of the game.
Here I don't think you have to have that, so I think that's good.

Q. How much better a player are you now all around than you were in '91?
FRED FUNK: I'm a lot better than '91. Not even close. I was still -- that was my third year on tour full-time, and I was still intimidated and still learning and trying to see if I belonged on the Tour.
You know, it wasn't easy. It was long climb to get to the different levels. Just kind of went from one level to the next. It's kind of a comfort zone. You get comfortable with your, you know, being in your own skin and being out here playing with guys that you see on TV.
And, you know, the biggest thing I realized that these guys are pretty human out here, and they have bad days. When they're on, they're really good. When I was on, I knew I was really good so that really helped me.
But I am a much more confident player now. I know a lot more about the game and myself. And, when I'm healthy, I expect a lot out of myself. And that's kind of where I go with it.
I kind of go out there and I know I'm going hit more good shots than bad shots when I'm playing the way I am now, and I'm going reward myself a lot more than I'm not. I think I'm going to have a lot more opportunities for birdies than I'm going have for bogeys. I mean, if I was really analytical about my rounds. And that's kind of how I approach it.
So I'm going go out there and, you know, if I make a few bogeys I am still going to expect to make a lot of birdies. So, with that kind of mentality, it's a little easier to play than when you are not playing so well and you are not sure how many opportunities you are going to give yourself, and when you finally get one you feel like you got to make it because you don't know when you are going to get another one.
So there's different levels of confidence, to where you are at the top of the leader board. Right now I'm very confident where I am and really going to enjoy it. I'll just see what happens. And whatever happens, happens.
But I want it really bad. I don't want it so bad that it affects my game, but I do want it really bad. I'm going to go out there and play my hardest just like everybody else out there.

Q. Fred, were conditions as conducive to scoring today as they were yesterday? And if it continues that way, where do you see this, you know, the winning score winding up, and does it make it more difficult to separate yourself, or if you fall too far behind to make up that ground?
FRED FUNK: That's a good question. If the greens stay receptive, it's going to be the key. If they get a little firm or a little quicker, you are not going to see the scores. It's just going to be tougher to get it closer to the holes and get it in position to make the putt.
So usually you see this, you know, just like when Ricky Barns got to 11-under at Bethpage, everybody thought, oh boy, here we go, then everybody came right back and, what, won it 4- or 5-under, something like that.
So you just never know. But usually the scores come back.
I mean, usually the guys in front don't maintain that kind of pace throughout all four days. It's pretty hard.
But I don't think the golf course is going give up. I think the stroke average will be significantly different than yesterday, I think. I don't know whether it is already is or not, but I think it will be just because of the low humidity we have, the little bit of wind blowing, and pins today were a lot tougher than yesterday overall as total.
THE MODERATOR: Fred, thank you for your time.

End of FastScripts

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