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CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIPOctober 28, 2009Fred FunkSONOMA, CALIFORNIA DAVE SENKO: Fred, welcome. This is your third visit here to Sonoma. Still in the hunt for the Schwab. Just talk a little bit about this event. FRED FUNK: Well, it's a great event. Obviously what you want to come to. The golf course is in phenomenal shape, and looks like we'll have the weather you expect here when you come here, not last year's Noah's Ark deal. Course is fantastic. The way the year's unfolding, the way the points system seems to work every year, it comes down to make it really exciting. This year we have points all the way through, no matter where you finish, which I think is a good change. I think my caddie actually came up with that last year when all four of us that were in contention were out of the top 10 and there was no movement. The only excitement was how many strokes Andy Bean was gonna win by for the tournament, and Jay had it locked up. So this year, no matter where you finish, you're gonna get points. Now, there's some disparity there in the points, so I don't know how all the scenarios play out. I'm just gonna good out and play. I know I'm gonna have to win to get the thing more than likely. Second, worse, I guess. I don't even know that the -- same prize money as last year? DAVE SENKO: Yeah. Because you know, with Tom dropping out, it's... FRED FUNK: I thought he was coming. DAVE SENKO: No, he withdrew today. FRED FUNK: Oh, he did. Okay. But that's the same breakdown of money, right? DAVE SENKO: Yeah. FRED FUNK: If Loren finishes last and I finish second (laughter) it might work. I don't know how it works. You probably know how all that works. But I'm just gonna go out and play. It's great to be here and a great way to end the year. I love this venue. I know we're moving next year to Harding Park, which is a great venue as well. I just like the little tranquil feeling we have here, though. DAVE SENKO: How does it feel to have Tom back this year, Tom Watson here playing this event? FRED FUNK: Well, Tom's the best. I mean, he's such a great player and a great guy. But his skill level is so high, and when he plays, he competes every week. And then almost winning the British this year, that's something that was very disappointing. I really wanted him to win. You know, I know he did, too. But I think everybody probably in the world, 99% of the people were pulling for Tom to pull that off. You know, it was such a great story, and still is a great story. Just the disappointment of not finishing it off was disappointing for everybody. Tom is always a great addition to any field we have. Q. If you can, talk about Tom's play at the British Open. That has to be one of the top 10 stories of the year. FRED FUNK: Oh, I think if he had won it might have been arguably one of the best sporting achievements of all-time. So where do you put it with, you know, how -- jeez, I don't know. All the great sporting events. Some of the Super Bowl catches and Miracle on Ice, having him doing do that at age 60. One thing I thought was kind of not highlighted at all was the fact that he was coming off a hip -- less than a year from having a new hip. I don't remember the broadcasters saying anything, or writing anything about it really. It was just kind of a forgotten thing. I'm sure it wasn't forgotten for him. That's a pretty amazing recovery. That's the great thing about technology and hip replacements and his fortitude to come back the way he did. Q. Take that over to your knee. Can we have an update on your knee? You just came from something, didn't you? FRED FUNK: Yeah, I just had my hip and shoulder injected with Cortizone. Yeah, I think Sunday night after this is over, just lay me down and shoot me like a horse. (Laughter.) I'm just trying to get through this last race here. But I was doing the same thing last year. It's very frustrating, because last year I was having my knee drained almost every week. I continued even after this week when I played the Wendy's 3 Tour and the knee was bothering me. Then went to the Shark Shootout, and that's finally when I had the staph infection and I had that draining, the 16th draining of my knee. So that set me back. It's just been a tough year. If you had asked me back in December, January, even February after I got the picc line out that I would be able to have the kind of year I've had, I would have laughed and said, There's no way. But it's turned out really -- in kind of the big picture it's been really good, but it's been a really tough battle for me. I played at a really high level for a little window of opportunity that I had for about six, seven weeks. I saw it coming and it built, built, built, and I got my game -- really went to a really high level there at the senior British. I was playing really solid. Then at the U.S. Open I played fantastic. Everything was working: My mind, putting, short game, driver, everything was working that week. I allowed myself to play and take advantage of the way my mindset was. So that was very satisfying, to know everything was there and allow myself to do that and end up pulling off that tournament. So that was really very satisfying. But I think I played way too much. I really wanted the Schwab Cup really bad. Right now, at this point, I mean, I care about it, but I don't expect anything now this week. My game just kind of went in the toilet, unfortunately. I hate to say it, but I just haven't been playing well at all the last six weeks or so. Played decent at Baltimore. Kind of just gutted that one out because it was on a really hard golf course, and I love the hard golf courses. But my body just won't let me do what I need to do. Either that -- one or both. It's either I can't do what I really want to do, or I've got myself in so many bad habits I can't get out of 'em. I have zero expectations this week. I want to play well, and I hope to play well. I'm just gonna go out there and do my four laps and add 'em up. Q. You ever get times where it turns around on a dime, though? FRED FUNK: Yeah, I've had some times I can get -- I'll find something, a little swing key that will work or something that will put a Band-Aid on it. I've been trying to find a tourniquet for it right now. I've tried everything. Just can't quite find it. But it's been -- you know, in the big picture, it's great. What I'm really looking forward to now, next week I'm gonna go see Peter Jacobson's doctor and my doctor and another team of guys and just try to get a game plan of what I need to do for the long term. Whether I'm gonna go and pull the trigger on a knee replacement right now, or I have more time and do something. Just get something where I can get on a program where I can allow myself to either start the year better next year or get it done and just rehab until I'm ready and then come out full guns when I'm ready to go again. So I don't know. What I'm looking forward to is just try and come up with some game plan and get me on the right track. Two or three years -- the irony of it is I've had my whole career where' I've be pretty much injury-free. Little nicks and pains and a couple minor surgeries, but nothing that's really shut me down. Try to really -- I have really worked hard to take care of myself, or think that I have, and try to get better and really work hard. I have a lot of motivation. I want to play well. I have huge goals, and my body is just going right in the toilet. You know, I just don't understand why it's all happened, but it's happened. You know, just trying to get through it. It's been a battle. I really want to -- I want to be competitive and play well until I'm -- you know, I'd like to be like Gary Player and come out here and play and be competitive. I would-like to be like Hale Irwin. When Hale's healthy, he can still win out here. And Gil Morgan at 64 years old, he's playing fantastic. And Tom Kite. I mean, on and on. When you're feeling well, age is not a factor in this game. Tom proved that at the British Open. On certain venues you can play. It's what I love to do and what I want to do and I want to try to continued to do. I just have the passion to play. I've never lost that passion. I just struggle trying to get that game to where I know I need it to be. I can't afford to -- I don't hit the ball very far anyway to start with. Now I've lost probably ten or fifteen yards in the last couple months off the tee. It just filters through the whole game, because I just don't have the horsepower to get through the ball right now. So it's frustrating. And probably the more frustrating part is I would love to be coming in here knowing I'm playing really good. The golf course is playing perfect for me if I was playing my A game. It's set up like a major venue. The harder the golf course the better for me. That's why I think I play well in the majors. My history in the majors on the Champions Tour are really good. You know, my history in the majors on the regular tour is not that great. But I love playing. You shoot 68, 69, 70, you've had a really good day. You don't have to go out there and shoot the 64, 65s. So I look golf courses where it rewards you to be just a couple under par. The way the golf course is a playing right now, it's really firm and really fast, but you gotta keep it out of that rough and be under the hole. You gotta control your golf ball right now. So it's playing to where the best guy that's playing -- the guy that's playing the best this week i think will definitely be identified on Sunday. You saw that at Baltimore this year. It was incredible. At the PLAYERS, if you looked at the leaderboard, every person on the top 10 when they flashed it with three or four holes to go, it was the guys you expected to be up there. Nick and Tom and -- you know, everybody. Just all the top guys. It's like nobody that was a surprise was up there. I thought that was a great testimony to the golf course and how good a golf course it is. I think we'll have that this week. You know, a 30-man field, you'll see -- and obviously we all are really good players. But the top guys that are really golfing their golf ball are gonna be identified this week. Q. Baltimore was a bit of a homecoming for you, too. FRED FUNK: Yeah. Yeah, that's the one I really wanted to -- I really focused in -- when I was in the Senior Open, that's the one I would want to win in my hometown, or where I grew up. Baltimore is not my hometown, but Maryland is my home state. Yeah, I really would love to win one there. I always wanted to win the Kemper or something, now AT&T. But funny how they change the names all the time. Q. Does the fact that Tom took time off last year and had hip replacement and came back so strong, does that influence you on, okay, maybe I should get my knee back to where it should be and come back out? FRED FUNK: Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. That's what's happening with the other parts of my body. It's not just my knee right now, it's my right hip and my left shoulder is pretty worn out. Q. Same side as the knee? FRED FUNK: The knee is on the right, and obviously the right hip. But the left shoulder, when I first was coming back, I couldn't turn into my backswing as much because it would hurt too much to go onto the right knee. Instead of turning I would lift. You're gonna figure out how to get - feel like a full swing. I just was turning and there was no stress. But the minute you lift all the time, all your stretching and all the stress is right on that. Q. Kind of a direct... FRED FUNK: I think it is, and Peter Jacobson said the same thing. He said everything was manifested by -- fed off all the other stuff, so... Q. Same thing for him. FRED FUNK: Yeah, he had the same thing. He had the right knee and the left him and the left shoulder. It's just frustrating. And now, I just see that -- I have this window of opportunity, and I want to take advantage of it. I haven't been able to take full advantage like I wanted to. And the one thing I haven't learned in 21 years of playing is how to schedule. I just play and play and play and figure I'm gonna have a good week here somewhere. I just kept playing, and I shouldn't have played. I should have taken a couple of the last few tournaments off. Maybe the Carolina events or something. But I just played too much and wore myself out. When we played those particular weeks, we happened to play in really muddy, soft conditions. It was tough walking in it, and that's when my hip really started bothering me again. A lot of hills and walking and a lot of mud. It was frustrating. So that's the theme: Fred Funk is frustrated. Q. How does the off-season look? FRED FUNK: Well, depends what I come up with next week. I had the two same tournaments. Wendy's 3 Tour. Nick and Jay and I are going back to defend. I really want to do that one. And the Shark Shootout I love playing every year. A lot of fun, great format. Great weather down in Naples that time of year. I think I got Sluman would be my partner this year. He's a great guy. One of my closest friends. It would be fun. But depends what kind of game plan -- the thing that's really tearing me up is I want to play Hualalai. I missed it last year. It's just a great way to start the year. I was gonna play Sony, and then go play Hualalai and have a little two and a half, three week vacation in Hawaii and play golf a little bit. If I end up having this, I'm gonna miss that again. It's just pissing me off. (Laughter.) Q. Tell me about the ADT skill challenge. FRED FUNK: Well, I overpowered 'em in the long drive. It was unbelievable. Well, I don't know that I can tell you the results. Well, they had the results on the Golf Channel. We ended up finishing third. They had the new format. The last skill was really not a skill. It was a competition reverse scramble, so they play worst ball, one hole. So four teams, two go out and they eliminated -- one team got eliminated. Nick Price and I played J.B. Holmes and Kenny Perry, and we got eliminated. Then I think they went one hole to a playoff and then two playoff holes. So either that or they went just two holes. I kind of lost track. But it was huge, because it was $200,000 purse for that one thing. It was $100,000 each. Boo and, yeah, Snedecker and Boo won it all. They just blew everybody away. The first day -- we had to stand on the tee until the first group finished because of the TV. Freddy and I think Hunter Mahan were partners. They got a five-footer to win, and they both missed. The worst putt went by five feet and they both missed coming back and ended up getting eliminated. So they went the wrong way on that one with. But the long drive was pretty funny. I was up first and I hit my first one 244. It's not rolling at all. Just plugging. And then I hit my next 265, which made me feel really good. At least I'm out there somewhere. But it was playing long, because the longest guys were 280 until J.B. got up. He hits his first two balls out, and the last ball, three guys tied at 280. He hits the next one and just butt nuts it. It plugs at 314, 35 yards past the other guys. Ridiculous. Not one inch of roll. It was unbelievable. But it was fun time. We ended up finishing third. They had a comedian from Saturday Night Live at the banquet that night. He's ripping on everybody, but he gets to my name and said, I see Funk. Never thought I would see the word "Fred" in front of it. (Laughter.) Then he told Marino, and Marino is back there and he's ripping on him about not being a scrambler or something like that. Giving him a hard time about something else. Marino stands up and he goes, Hey, I'm tired of this. You really couldn't hear him, but he saw him stand up. He goes, That's right. You're mad enough to start coming after me. By the time you get here, I got ten minutes to get out of here. (Laughter.) He said, You got Hunter, Boo and Brant. He said, I'm thinking I'm in some sort of porno film. I wasn't sure until I saw J.B. Holmes, then I knew I was in one. End of FastScripts |
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