PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2002

Fred Funk

FRED FUNK: It was just a really good, probably my best putting round all year. I think I was actually adding up my putts before I putted out on 18. Had an 8- or 10-footer and was trying to kill time, so I started figuring how many putts I had, and I thought, well, if I made this, it will be only 24 for the day, so that was a pretty good day. I can't remember having 24 putts in a long, long time out there, regardless of how many greens I missed or hit. So, it was a rewarding day. That's the good news. Bad news, I didn't hit it as good as I've been hitting all week prior to coming into this tournament; I had been struggling a little bit. But it's got a little better each day and hopefully it will keep getting better. It's obviously a golf course that you've got to hit it solid and hit it kind of high. The rain, obviously, helped some, but it's still an advantage to be a long hitter and bring it in high and soft. So I need to be hitting a little more solid to control these shots into the greens.

FRED FUNK: I birdied 7. I drove it in the right rough and laid up with an eight and hit a pitching wedge in there about 12, 15 feet and I made that. 11, I hit a good drive and a 3-wood across the cross-bunkers and had, like, 65, 70 yards to the pin and hit it up about 7 feet, 8 feet and made that. 15, I chipped in from -- that's probably about 15 feet from the hole, I was in the fringe, I wasn't in the high stuff, but just off the fringe cut. Chipped that in, hit a real nice chip there. 16, I hit a 7-iron in about, I don't know, 25, 30 feet, I guess, and made that. 4-iron into 17, I guess that was 20 feet. The bogey was 13. Trying to hit a 5-iron, I really missed hitting the right spot by probably three feet to the right and it would have rolled right up to the hole, but, instead, it kicked down into the rough. The kind of lies you get here, they are not very good around the greens. I didn't hit a very good chip and didn't hit a very good putt, so ended up with bogey.

FRED FUNK: On that hole, it was probably eight feet.

FRED FUNK: The save at 14, my caddie wanted me to hit a 3-iron off the tee and the wind is kind of blowing pretty hard in out of the left. I just thought that was going to leave me a 7- or 6-iron, and that's what he said it was go leave me and I didn't want to hit that into that green. Usually, I'm pretty good with my 4-wood off the tee, so I thought I would sneak it up further and pulled it in the left rough, behind the trees, and I was trying to run it up into the bunker, the green-side bunker and ended up about six inches short of the bunker, where my foot is in the bunker. I had no green to work with, I had a really awkward lie and a stance. Actually, had a good lie, but an awkward stance. I just took a chance on opening the blade and swinging really hard with one of those Mickelson flop shots and I pulled it off and hit it about four feet and made it.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, I was disappointed I haven't made one all year. Obviously, I wasn't in the Masters, and then the U.S. Open, I played real good all day in the qualifier, but I could not get a putt in and missed that by a shot. Went over for three weeks to try to qualify for the British, played three European events and ended up not qualifying for that. That was a little disheartening. I knew I was in this one all year, so I knew I was going to get in one of them.

FRED FUNK: Where were we last year?

FRED FUNK: Oh, Atlanta, that's right. I forgot. I ended up fumbling that tournament pretty good. I hit the ball really poorly on the weekend there in Atlanta. I started driving it in the rough and from there, you can't do much, and couldn't hit my irons solid. I'm trying to take it one shot, one day at a time and then go from there.

FRED FUNK: I really went to the attitude that, hey, I was glad I was paired with Wayne, which was fine because we are good buddies. But I was hoping I would be a better influence on him as far as relaxing him, because I was in his camp. I was really trying to root him on and he got off to a really solid start and then he started missing some fairways and getting in trouble. That's what you do on this golf course. You hit it in some bad shots, and all of a sudden, you're making bogeys and doubles. It was a good pairing. Brian is a great guy and Wayne is a great guy and I look forward to playing with him tomorrow, too.

FRED FUNK: We were all -- all day it was the same, everybody was pretty light out there and it's an easy pairing. There's no personality clashes, that's for sure.

FRED FUNK: I didn't play Bethpage, but it is a golf course that as long as the fairways are running the way they are, it's actually playing shorter than what I remember playing in '91. It's the kind of course where you've really got to work the ball into the fairway. I think the fairways play narrower than what they are because of the little slopes that they have and the way the wind is blowing, you've got to feed the ball into the right trajectory and the right ball flight to get it to hold the fairways. So, they play narrower than that. They are running far enough so that the holes do not play overly long. As far as that, it just shows that a good ball-control type player can play well and score well.

FRED FUNK: We were noticing on the screen before they interviewed me in the studio saying the F-U's are on top. (Laughter.) Hopefully, we can stay up there. Jim is a really good friend of mine -- I'm pretty good friends with everybody out here, I think. It's good to be up top for a while. Woods is still right there, it looked like, at 1-under, and from I hear, he didn't play that well today. He's still 1-under. So the cream will rise to the top, they usually do, that's why they play four rounds.

FRED FUNK: Any other option? I don't know, I think with my game, when I'm playing well, I would have a better record in majors that I do and it's frustrating that I have not played well in more majors than I have. I played well at Baltusrol and maybe Valhalla, a couple of others. I don't know what it is. I get caught up in the moment maybe a little too much, or if it becomes too important to me or something, I don't relax. But you've definitely got to have your A Game when you come to the majors, no matter what the golf courses are. If they don't have high rough, then they have the really tricky greens and if they don't have the tricky greens, they have the elements that you've got to deal with. All four of them are a bit different and you've got to deal with it,and I haven't handled them all that well for some reason. One of my best PGAs, I think, was Valhalla, and that was probably the most generous fairways they have. It was probably a bigger hitter's tournament than any of them. I seem to play more on the more generous -- even though I'm known as a straight driver of the ball and not that long, I play better on courses that have a little more room on them. I don't know why that is. One reason, I think when I do miss them a little bit like in an Open setup, I usually hit it in the fairway and it will roll out and you get into that first part of the grass that's this high (indicating six inches) in the thickest part and I can't even move when I get in there. The bombers, when they miss it, they get over in the people sometimes and they have shots. I'm not really sure, but that's one theory, anyway.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, I was about 20 minutes from teeing off, and then I just went back to the fitness trailer during the whole time and got stretched for the second time, and then just played on the floor and stretched my back out, about the whole time, the foam thing under my back, trying to get that loose. Instead of just sitting in the locker room getting tight, I was trying to get the body loose and relaxed.

FRED FUNK: No, I won't. Hopefully, my game will be getting a little stronger each day, ball-striking-wise, and if I stay relaxed over the putter the way I have -- I worked with a guy at home the last couple of weeks that has worked on more of my mind, to try to have my putting routine mimic more my setup routine with my full shots. So when I'm playing well, I'm not thinking about what I'm doing right here, I'm thinking about my target, trying to take the game into more of a reactive mode rather than being so conscious of everything. That's what I'm doing with my putter now and finally, the first thing we stumbled on, the first thing he got me to do, didn't really work. We refined it the next time I went home, and it's been working a little bit better. So, I'm basically getting up and just trying to put the putter down with no practice and just take one or two looks -- well, two or three looks and then go. I've been working hard on trying to get my speed down. That's the biggest thing. It's really nice, I feel like my putter is coming around, it's a friend of mine again, instead of an enemy.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, he is. His name is Dr. David Belkin. He's a guy that lives in Jacksonville. I never really worked -- like Bob Rotella scared me, he would get on the couch my went to Bob. (Laughter.) That's not true. I've never really worked with psyches that much. But he has helped. He's tried to free up my mind a little bit.

FRED FUNK: Well, it was a big factor. I walked off, I hit a terrible drive on 7. The wind was blowing in out of the left and I was trying to hold up against the wind and I just hung it out to the right. I went out and told my caddie, "Man that was a tough tee shot. I didn't really handle that one too well." Fortunately, I had a shot. It was a lay-up hole, anyway, so I got away with it. You had to pick a certain line and really commit to that line. It's like I aimed at the rough cut on 12 down the right side, aiming it at left bunkers on 15, so it will hold the fairway on 15. 16 was dead into your face and you just had to commit to trying to hit one solid and make sure it went straight. That's a really tough driving hole. 18 is in out of the left and you're trying to hit it solid at the same time, pick that certain line down the left side so the whole fairway -- you really had to be focused on where you wanted to start it and then try to commit to that shot. You really had to concentrate on those, I thought, anyway. The guys in my group felt that way, too.