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GREATER HICKORY CLASSIC AT ROCK BARNOctober 14, 2012Fred FunkCONOVER, NORTH CAROLINA PHIL STAMBAUGH: Fred, it was an exciting day here at Rock Barn, and you win your second Champions Tour event of 2012. A little different fashion, but you birdied the last hole just like you did at Houston to win. It's your eighth career title and you've now won multiple titles for the first time since 2008, so congratulations on all that. Just talk about the day. FRED FUNK: I started off really solid. I hit all nine greens and fairways on the front, and I couldn't buy a putt. I had really three putts that I thought I made, that I hit on good lines anyway, either misread them or they just broke off. So I was a little disgruntled there, although I made a really good two‑putt on 9 because I had a really long first one. And then I finally made my first birdie on 12, and I hit it‑‑ I drove it in a divot, and it was a small divot but real deep, so it was sitting way down, and I played an 8‑iron way back in my stance, and ironic that the worst lie I had all day was my first birdie. I hit it in there probably about eight feet, six feet, and made that. And then my lone bad drive on 14, I hit it way left, and I had to smother‑hook a 9‑iron around the trees, over the lake, and I thought I hit it perfect, but it got to the top, and I already thought it stopped, and all of a sudden my caddie goes, "whoa, whoa, whoa," and it almost rolled down in the water. It stopped, I got up‑and‑down, good putt there. Great putt on 14, the par‑5. I left it dead end short on 16. And 17 was just a great second putt to keep me alive. I assumed that Duffy was going to birdie 18 with his length, and I don't know where he drove it or what he did, but when I saw that all I needed‑‑ well, all I needed, but if I birdie 18 I win the tournament, so I played real aggressive with my tee shot, I swung as hard as I could, I hit it really good. It was playing long; I absolutely smoked my 3‑wood to get it where it got to, and then just hit a great chip. I was still nervous‑‑ ridiculously nervous over that last putt. But thank goodness it went in. It just felt good because I've been knocking at the door on this tournament a lot, and it's a golf course I really like. I'm really hoping that we get the tournament back. There's been a lot of tournaments I've won. I don't want to be the guy that sends fate‑‑ tournaments I've won that don't even exist anymore or they move the golf course. On the regular Tour I had numerous tournaments, and even out here. So I need to just hope and pray that we have this tournament next year because I really like this tournament. I know all the guys really like it, and we know it's a really small market, but we all love coming here. And it's a really good golf course. I love the golf course. I've been saying that all week. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Details of the birdie at 14? FRED FUNK: 14, I hit‑‑ they had the tees up to tease you, and I almost decided to hit driver, decided to just make it a three‑shot hole because if I hit driver on the wrong line, it takes me out of the tournament. So that was my final thought. So I ended up hitting a 4‑iron off the tee, my 4 hybrid, and 3‑wood lay‑up, and then a 50‑degree wedge into the hole to probably 12 feet, and I hit a really nice putt there. That was probably the best putt I hit all week. It never left the center of the cup. That was a good one. PHIL STAMBAUGH: And then the par save at 17, how long was that putt? FRED FUNK: That was a long one, probably eight or nine feet I would think. Yeah, I decided that‑‑ I've got a big gap between my 5‑iron and my 4‑iron because I have that hybrid. I can hit the 5‑iron 180 in the air and maybe get a little more out of it if I hit it the right way, and my 4‑iron goes 200 with no problem. I had 203, but I didn't want to land it up top and let it go over the green, so I thought I could munch a 5‑iron. I hit it as good as I could hit it, but it didn't release out. So it left me a tough putt. I wanted to make sure I got it there and I just killed it. Really the worst putt I hit all week for speed and everything else. Big break coming back, big right‑to‑lefter, and it crawled in that left corner. So that was a big bonus there. PHIL STAMBAUGH: And then the pitch at 18 was about how far out? FRED FUNK: It was 40 yards total to the pin, and it was just sitting in the first cut so it was a little fluffy, and I hit a 54. I had a lot of green to work with. I just wanted to run it back there, and it came off the club perfect and ended up perfect. I wish it‑‑ in hindsight it doesn't matter, but I wish it was a little closer than it was so I could just tap it in. But it was just right there in wiggle room where I needed to wiggle it in. Q. Why did this mean a lot to you? You mentioned earlier you've gotten to know the people so well out here. FRED FUNK: Yeah, it really feels like family here, the guys. I don't know why, I forgot the Jarretts were‑‑ I just love that family. Everybody loves the Jarrett family. Ned and Dale have been so nice to me for so long, and I knew Dale a long time back before the tournament even came here. I got to race at his school‑‑ not race but drive the car. Not race. That was really cool. I've done that six times now, the Petty school and the Dale Jarrett school. And then I met his dad and played at Catawba Club, so they mean a lot. And Jim Correll is a great tournament director. And then the Beaver family; I've played with their daughters, his daughter, played with him numerous times, and they're just great and such an important family for this community. I think it's just a feel‑good place for me to come to. I really like it a lot. Q. How close were you to the bunker on 18 on that second shot? FRED FUNK: It was always left of the bunker. It was a little‑‑ I was trying to go farther‑‑ I was actually aiming just inside the left rough, and I swung really hard at it and kind of blocked it a little bit. But it was fine, it wasn't that close. I mean, on the line. It never really was over the bunker. It would have had to take a terrible bounce to go over there. But I was just trying to get as close as I could to the green. I knew I didn't get there unless I hit the longest 3‑wood I've ever hit in my life, which I didn't, but I was happy it got where it did. Q. You spoke yesterday about being more relaxed. Were you feeling that when you were locked in on the back nine? FRED FUNK: Yeah, I was still feeling it. I really wanted to win really bad, but at the same time I really wanted to just let it go and keep hitting good shots. I did, I made a bad swing where I tried to guide it on 13, and I got away with that. I made a par somehow. And I didn't make a very good swing on 16 off the tee, but I had a lot of club. I didn't want to kill the driver, so I was trying to ease up on the driver, and I kind of popped it up a little bit. But it ended up perfect right over the bunkers and right down there where I had a pretty easy shot, I just mis‑clubbed‑‑ I hit the wrong shot on the second shot. But I was feeling the heat. You always do. When you get in contention, you do want to finish it. I assumed‑‑ I really assumed‑‑ I saw Duffy two‑putt 17, and I assumed he was going to birdie 18 with his power. I mean, he can outdrive me by 30 yards or more. I just figured it was a David‑and‑Goliath type hole. He had all the advantage on that one. But like I said, I don't know what he did, so I heard his second shot was pretty far back and didn't hit that great a third shot. He must not have hit his tee shot solid or something somewhere. But he gave me the opportunity, and the door was open, and I'm just glad I shut the door. Q. This gives you a little bit of momentum going to play against the young kids next week at the Web.com event next week in Jacksonville. FRED FUNK: Yeah, I'd love to keep playing the way I am playing the last two weeks. I've been playing really solid really the last few months, being close to playing really well. Looking forward to playing next week.  If I can drive the ball good next week, I expect to play really well because you've got to stay‑‑ the only way you can be in contention there is to keep it out of that Bermuda rough because it is really set up like a major next week, so it's really tough. Q. Along those lines with the Web.com, you're changing Tours but you're still coming off a win. How do you think that's going to play into it? FRED FUNK: Well, I'm really looking into next week just having fun. If I play good, great, and if I don't, I'm not‑‑ I won't be real happy about it, but I want to put on a good show. I'm going to put some self‑imposed pressure on myself to put on a good show. Whenever I go out on the regular Tour I want to represent the Champions Tour and myself as great as I can, and when any of the guys from our Tour jump out to the regular Tour, I want them to play‑‑ I want them to win. I want them to show that we can still play, and they know that. But I want the world to know that we really play. I really think we get a misconception of where we play these golf courses from. Everybody still thinks we're playing from 6,400 to 6,600 yards, and we're out 7,000 to 7,200 with the courses that are that long. We're not playing chip‑and‑putts like they used to when they first had the Champions Tour. So I think a lot of guys say, yeah, you can shoot that when it was 6,700 yards, and it's like, we're not playing it from 6,700 yards. No, I like to always turn that misconception around. But it's hard to do that. A lot of people just think we're old guys that play on shorter tees and lighten it up. It was a pretty good score this week with the way the‑‑ Duffy is playing next week, yeah. In fact, I was going to put Duffy up at my house, but he's already got a room he said he paid for for the whole week. So oh, well, his loss. Q. How do you think Duffy will do going forward here on the Champions Tour? FRED FUNK: Oh, Duffy will do good. He's got a really good game. He hits the ball not as long as Kenny Perry; he's not one of our longest guys that would be out here, but he's plenty powerful enough, but he's real accurate. Probably more accurate than most of the long guys. He's always had a really good game and just kind of even keel. He just kind of plods along. You know, I guess I'd describe my game as plodding along. His game is plodding along with a lot more power. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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