PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2002

Fred Funk

FRED FUNK: Well, after a long morning, obviously, the first hole, got off to a really bad start for me, although I made a great 5. It was the only fairway I missed and really probably deserved to make a double, but made probably about a 10-footer. That settled me down, actually when I made that bogey putt. I played pretty solid the rest of the day. I hit some iffy shots here and there, but I hit some good ones, and the conditions were tough. I didn't shoot myself out of it completely. Obviously, I've got to play well tomorrow with Justin playing as well as he has.

FRED FUNK: I told you about 1. I drove it in the fairway bunker I was in the casual water that was if the bunker, so I had to drop it in the bunker. Obviously, you know that's going to plug, so I was doing everything I could to try to keep it from plugging, so I was able to drop it near the edge and I knew it was going to roll, or hoping it was going to roll about four or five inches. The problem with that is, I had to stand out of the bunker, it was way below my feet. I hit it real thin and barely got over the lip and I was on the rough on the other side of the bunker. So, I was in trouble right there, the whole time. Then my first birdie was on 11, it took that long. 11, I hit a 52-degree wedge in there, I was about 95 yards, to about 15, 20 feet. Made a nice putt there. Then, hit a really bad iron shot on 13, I hit a 5-iron real thin and tried to put it on the fringe. I was on the fringe, or the fairway cut, I was a good eight yards short of the green and tried to roll through it and it was real sticky and left it short. Made bogey there. Then made a really nice putt on 15. 17, I 3-putted. I had a really tough first putt. I was on that lower level there and had to putt up, big break to the right, and left it short and hit a really good second putt, but it didn't go in. That was about it. I guess it was just three bogeys and two birdies.

FRED FUNK: No, it's not distracting. I'm really enjoying it. It's a lot of fun. I think the looseness that I showed and the fun and the enthusiasm I've been showing all week, it's going over to the fans and they are having a good time, they see me having a good time. It's fun. I kind of feel like how Freddie Couples must feel when you hear "Freddie" all day long. I've always been the other Fred. It's been a little -- I told my caddie, it must be a little Funk Fest out here or something. But I've had a good time with them and they have had a good time with me. I was hoping I was going to make a little more noise today, give them more opportunities to do something. In fact, I told the guys down below, on 16, I was waiting out in the fairway and Tiger did his traditional fist-pump when he made that birdie putt, and I had a putt probably about 15 feet there, and I told my caddie, I said if I make this, I'm going to do the exact same thing that Tiger did to the crowd and I knew they would go crazy if I made it. I just said, "God, I've got to make this putt" and I left it short. I had the one opportunity to match him, and I couldn't do it. (Laughs). I was going to play with the crowd on that one, I had it all planned out, and it didn't work.

FRED FUNK: Justin is awfully strong when you have conditions like this. I could see 8- or 9-under winning it if Justin doesn't take off. Really, it would be difficult -- I could see 10-under winning, honestly. I think 10-under would be a nice number, unless Justin gets really comfortable with everything and just takes off with it and ends up getting to 11 or 12 or 13. Honestly, I think 10-under would be a realistic total that guys could strive for that are trying to chase him.

FRED FUNK: Fortunately, it's a ball-controlled type game, as long as you're long enough. The key is, if you're long enough. I'm long enough that I can get to the holes, and I can't overpower the golf course, but I'm long enough where if I hit it solid -- and that's the key to my game, I hit it solid, I hit it far enough, I'm still averaging almost 276. It's not real long, but it's long enough. As long as I'm hitting it solid, the key to my game, again, is hitting it solid. The conditions, as far as the score, or the scoring, I think it wasn't as bad as people expected because the course was softer. If we had the same amount of wind, without the rain that we had last night, it would have been really, really, a good score to shoot even par today. Because the fairways would have been running out and the greens would have been lightning fast and not holding near as well as they were after the moisture they got in them. So, I think guys were a little bit surprised, especially when guys started turning, you could see guys got through the golf course and they were not -- you were not seeing big numbers. The key was to get through some of the tough holes like 8, where you could make a big number fast. 16, you obviously could make a big number fast, but they moved the tees way up, which was a big surprise that those tees were so far up on that hole.

FRED FUNK: Justin hits -- I guess, growing up in Texas, he hits a pretty flat trajectory and he hits it really solid. He stays on top of the ball instead of working underneath. The guys that have trouble, me, one of them, when I'm not swinging real well is I get stuck underneath and I can send the ball up in the air or not hit it solid. I kind of categorize Justin the way Nick Price kind of hits down on the ball or traps the ball; they are more on top of it, or Hal Sutton, Tiger, obviously, but that's just pure brute-strength there, more than technique. Tiger -- forget it, I won't even mention him anymore. I'll see him all day tomorrow. Justin has a real good game for these kind of conditions because he hits it really solid, he hits it really straight, he's a pure ball-control type player and he's a very confident player. So, there he is, he's atop the board.

FRED FUNK: Absolutely. If the wind is really nothing, lays down completely, unless they -- well, even if they hide the pins, they are going to be able to get to them because the greens are softer. So, yeah, I could see that. 65 or 66 would become not an unusual number, I think, tomorrow.

FRED FUNK: I think it's a great round of golf, in the third round when it was so bunched up, and he pretty much -- well, he was playing with Rich Beem and I know Rich was playing real solid all day and got off to -- well, he birdied one right out of the gate. I think Justin made a bogey somewhere early, and then he must have come back from there, I'm not sure. That's a great round of golf. Hats off to him for playing so well, and Rich, too. It was really a tough day. I don't know how many rounds were in the 60s out there, just one? How many under par? Probably quite a few under par. Just three under par all day? That tells you right there.

FRED FUNK: No, it's not the toughest wind I've ever played in. But it was close. Playing in Carnoustie was the toughest conditions I ever played in at the British that year, the nice mayor of the way they set that course up. I remember hearing the R&A saying they didn't expect the wind to blow, and Colin Montgomerie said, "The wind blows all the time, so what are you thinking about."

FRED FUNK: Absolutely. I've had a ball this week. I truly have -- was intent on having fun this week, and then I got myself -- either chicken or egg thing. Did my good attitude give me the chance to play well, or did I play well and have my good attitude, I don't know. I was pretty confident coming in here, as far as the way I've been playing. I expected to play well. I didn't expect to lead or anything at this point, or after two rounds. I really was trying to work on -- I was drawing strength from my brother, to tell you the truth. There's just no reason to be all glum on the golf course when you see somebody so close to you have the strength to do what he's done, to turning things around. It's not that big a deal. I'm pretty good-natured in general, and when I let myself be that way, is usually when I do play well, so that's what I need to do. So, it's been a conscious effort. I've been told this by my brother, by my wife, by my mom, my dad, just be your natural self and be a little more animated, and that's what I wanted to do. So, it's has been fun. The response from the Minnesota people has been awesome.

FRED FUNK: That would be unbelievable. It would be unbelievable. I still kind of pinch myself to what I've done in my career already, not that it's anything great, but I was no superstar growing up and just really worked and worked and worked to try to improve each part of my game and improve my attitude and improve my body a little bit, allowing me to swing a little better, which I'm still working on, even though I'm getting pretty old at this point. It would be an incredible thing. I wouldn't need to do anything else. But I would still be happy with my career, even if I didn't tomorrow, but that would be the icing. I couldn't even put words on it. I don't think I'd be able to talk to you guys tomorrow for a long time because I would be so emotional.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, it's no question, one of the toughest short holes I've ever seen. It's really one of the toughest not-so-short holes I've ever seen. They did move it way up. Would I have guessed or would I have thought they would have put it on the front of the back box, but being all the way up like that, I hit a 3-iron off the tee and I hit it really solid, but it got eaten up by the wind and didn't go as far as I expected it to. There was no room from up there to really hit a wood, even with the winds blowing that far, so I was going to lay it back a little bit. The hole, when it's playing soft, it gives you a little more room to hit it out there. It's not as tough when the fairways are running towards that creek. It actually runs towards the creek and out towards the lake on the left side.

FRED FUNK: Oh, yeah. I have been.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, Tiger and I are really good friends. I think he enjoys playing with me. I kind of kid him all day long and he kids me back. He gives me a hard time all day long. We just go back and forth. It's a lot of fun. I love watching him play, though. I do watch him. When you have an opportunity to see somebody hit the ball that good and do the things he does -- just anywhere on the golf course, it's fun to see. I love watching good golf, even if it's my opponent.

FRED FUNK: No. Well, it probably would have if he didn't take the positive road, but he's taken the positive road, so it's been inspirational from that end, so, that part has been wonderful.

FRED FUNK: Well, everything changed, the whole thing changed when we had that rain storm last night from firm, fast conditions, with firm greens and fast greens, firm fairways, rough that was deep, but now it's grown even more and it's wet. So, if you hit it in the rough, you've got a little more trouble. The fairways are holding, though, so it's easier not to hit it in the rough, but it's playing longer and the greens are softer. So, you've got a lot of things that -- you've got some things that make it play a little tougher but other things that make it play a little easier.

FRED FUNK: Well, again, as long as you're long enough, I think is key. The courses are getting long. You're not going to beat a guy like -- very seldom are you going to beat a guy like Tiger or guys that can truly overpower golf courses and there's getting to be more and more of those guys out there now in a four-day event. You've just really got to be on top of your game the whole time. So, it's tough. But you just work on your course management and you work on your mind and not get caught up and realize that 68, 69 is still a good number most weeks. If you can average that, if you average 68 or 69 every round, you're going to be in there to win a lot of golf tournaments. It's not that you have to go out there and shoot the 62s or 63s, but most of the guys out here are capable on almost any golf course to shoot the 3- and 4-unders and stay consistent and do it that way.

FRED FUNK: None of them. I've led all five and I've won going into Sunday. That's a little tidbit thing, I guess. I've led a couple of others that I let go since then, the Kemper was one of them at home. But all five of my victories, I was leading or tied going into Sunday.