MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 9, 1999

Fred Funk

FRED FUNK: I got off to the start I wanted. Actually, I horseshoed a 5-iron on one. It went in, did a 360, came back out for eagle. I made that putt from about that far (indicating). Only bogey of the tournament was on 4. Hit a bad 8-iron in. First bogey of '99, hope my last (laughter). Then I birdied 5 and 6. That got me going pretty good. Then I had a real good chance of birdie on 9, and I missed. Thought I hit a good putt. But I birdied three of the first four holes on the back 9, and that got me going pretty good, so I felt like I was doing what I needed to do. But unfortunately behind me David was doing -- or fortunately, depends how you look at it, but David was doing the same thing. I wasn't catching up to him. I had a couple more opportunities that I missed on 14 and 15 and 18. But 16 and 17 were two really good pars. Overall I'm pleased. I gave myself a lot of opportunities, did what I wanted to do. It's just hard to catch a guy like David.

FRED FUNK: Yeah. For me, I have all the respect in the world for David. I think right now there's no question he's the best in the world. You know, he just has no weakness. If some odd thing happened that he did get off to a poor start today or now that the day is over with and he didn't do it, he played really good, but if for some reason he gets off to a bad start tomorrow and somebody, me or Billy or Vijay or somebody can get off to the good start, maybe put some pressure on him. Really, I was telling them down there, I really don't think David feels pressure anymore. I just think he is so confident in all aspects of his game that he's just going to go there. He's just going to beat you with pure talent, in my mind.

FRED FUNK: Everything. If you really look at his game, there's absolutely no weakness. He's tremendously long, he's tremendously straight, great iron player, great wedge player, really good chipper and a really good putter. Then he thinks good. You know, he doesn't get overly excited about having a bad hole because he really knows he's going to have a lot more good ones. I really think he has so much confidence when he's swinging well, and on a golf course like this where he can really use his strengths to his advantage.

FRED FUNK: I think so, yeah. I think he's one of them. Used to put Norman in that category, but he's longer than Norman and just at straight. I think total driving, he's probably the best there is right now.

FRED FUNK: Fortunately, there's other ways you can score in this game, but you've got to be really hot on your own game. For me, I just have to set up a lot of birdies. I can't overpower the golf course. I need to have my wedge game working and I have to have my putter working. Obviously, everybody needs their putter working. If I can just give myself the opportunities, and this golf course presents the opportunities for you, but you have to convert them. That's why you're seeing a lot of low scores this week. But I really think he's in a different league. He's going for his eighth tournament in a year or so. Pretty phenomenal.

FRED FUNK: Well, it gives you chances. You have a lot of short-irons into a lot of holes. But -- well, you have a lot of short-irons into the holes. You know you should get them in there pretty close to the pin and give yourself the opportunities to make some birdies. Your par 5s, if you can't reach them, the long guys can reach a lot of them if you have the right wind, there's four opportunities right there. If you're hitting it well out here, you're going to get rewarded with a lot of opportunities because the greens are big, the fairways are big, and it's in really good condition right now, too.

FRED FUNK: I'm just playing a lot more patient. I definitely learned a lot about the golf course over the years. Dealing with the wind, dealing with the grain, that's the biggest thing. I'm putting good this week, which I've never done here. That's the biggest difference.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, because that's definitely one element that's going to add that element of guesswork in there, if you add the wind to it. The first two days, you're pretty much hitting for your yardage, whatever yardage you had, you just had to figure in the elevation. Then that's a lot easier than throwing in that one more intangible, when you throw that wind in there. You have to figure that out, too. You're just not sure. If you hit the wrong shot at the wrong time, you're going to have a shot right in the wind. You're real elevated. It's not going to come down. It's going to go a lot further than you want. You don't want that.

FRED FUNK: Plenty of places to get in trouble. You just got to avoid those, obviously. You know, there are certain holes -- I think most of the holes here really favor the long hitter. There's really no substitute for length anyway, no matter where we play. David tomorrow is going to be hitting at places I wouldn't even dream of hitting it, or I could only dream of hitting it actually. He's tremendously long off the tee and straight. I've just got to really focus in on my game, let him play his game, add it up at the end. If I can't catch him, then there's still going to have a good tournament finish, you know, second, whatever I can do.

FRED FUNK: It's fun. I rely on her more than the -- more than people probably think I do. She's really good at trying to force me to be more visual and picking my line. She's always saying, "Where you aiming? What you looking at? Where you going to try to put this?" That's kind of important here because you have these huge vistas you're looking at, and you got to pick a line. You just can't sit there and swing at it, get sloppy with it. You really have to -- you're sitting there on No. 7, looking out, it's just gorgeous. You have to pick something to aim at. She's focusing me in on a target.

FRED FUNK: No. That day with Tiger in the practice round, I was driving the ball really good. I'd say the last month and a half or so, two months, I haven't really been hitting it that good off the tee. THE TOUR Championship course is set up perfect for me. I couldn't hit a fairway. Six-inch Bermuda rough ate me alive. I haven't been hitting it that good. I went to Japan; I wasn't that great off the tee. I was in the short and crooked, bad combination. I was working on a swing key that I got the day before I flew out here. I called my instructor and talked to him. He gave me some thoughts. I told him what I was doing. I was basically drop kicking everything. I kept hitting the big ball before the little ball with everything, my irons, my driver, everything. If I didn't do that, I was hitting it real thin. He was telling me I needed to get more width in my swing. That's my only -- trying to take my right hand up as high as I could get it. That's the only thought. I've hit some bad or poor shots with it, but I've hit really a lot of good quality shots with it this week. Seemed to have helped get me back on top of the ball instead of working under it.

FRED FUNK: No. I've had that since last May. That's been a great putter for me. I've made about a million dollars with that putter, so I'm real happy with that putter.

FRED FUNK: Oh, yes, huge. I was about -- when I went to it, I was 140th on THE TOUR in putting early last season. I finished 60th or something like that, so I moved way up. I was real pleased with that.

FRED FUNK: Yeah. I really think this golf course is designed for the real long hitters. I thought Davis and Tiger and Freddie and David and Vijay, just about everybody else but me would be at the top of that leaderboard. It's also a golf course that you got to think your way around, fortunately, too. You really got to be careful where you want to leave it because of where your putts are. You just got to figure out how to get it in there so can you make an aggressive putt. I've been behind the hole a lot, downhill, down grain putts. I've managed to 2-putt those. Haven't made too many of them; made a couple of them. Those are the putts that put you on the defensive. You have to be careful with them.

FRED FUNK: Oh, yeah. I really am. I'm really pleased with the way I've performed so far this week. I'm really surprised. I went last year for a stretch I was playing really good, and the game seemed easy to me, the way I play it. But I was hitting the ball exactly where I wanted. I was hitting it solid, putting good. I was shooting a lot of rounds in the 60s all summer long and late fall or early fall. Then I got out of it. Something went screwy with my game. Actually, what is kind of strange, the Southern, where I lost the playoff to Elky, was probably my best ball striking tournament I've ever had ever. I went next week to Anheuser-Busch. I finished seventh, but I hit the ball terrible. Couldn't hit it solid, started doing that drop kick move. I got in a bad habit somewhere in between there and never did get out of it till this week. It was literally within three days later, I go from Sunday to Wednesday ProAm and I couldn't hit it.

FRED FUNK: Bill Moretti. I go to Bill Moretti and Ledbetter as well. Two guys I really rely on the most.

FRED FUNK: Yes.

FRED FUNK: For me, it's basically just keeping the ball in play, setting up a lot of birdies. My game, when I'm playing good, my dispersion is not that much, so I tend to keep it in play a lot. When I'm playing really good, it's a little tighter even then. I hit my irons in there close. It's then just a matter of whether my putter is hot. Some weeks I hit it a little further and a little more solid than other weeks, I get a little extra, but I still can't compare to what David and Davis and those guys do.

FRED FUNK: I play within myself is the biggest thing. I don't try to do something I can't do. If I have to lay up on a par 5, I'll lay up. Like today, I was borderline on going for No. 5. I decided to go for it. I did make it. I hit a 4-wood over. I'm sitting there knowing I got to hit as good as I can hit it there to get it over. David is back there. I don't know what he hit, probably a 7-iron in there. I looked back and saw what his drive was. I'm back there trying to hope I get over. He's trying to make it from the fairway. There's a big difference there.

FRED FUNK: Yeah. I've given myself a lot of opportunities. Yesterday was a real disappointing round because I played extremely good 9 through 18, only made one birdie. I was hitting good putts. I just couldn't get them to fall, just losing speed. Most of them were just losing speed right around the hole and the grain would grab it. It was going over to low lip or high lip. It was just real frustrating. I finally hit it close yesterday on 17, and made that one. I let a really good round go yesterday. 7-under the first day was really solid. Yesterday was even a more solid round. Today I could have had a little bit lower, but I'm pretty pleased overall. Anytime you make six birdies in a round, pretty solid.

FRED FUNK: Birdie on one, I hit a 5-iron an inch. Bogeyed 4. Only bogey of the week. Missed it with an 8-iron. I 2-putted 5 from about 20 feet. Made about an 8-footer on 6. Hit a 6-iron in there. 10, I hit a wedge about a foot. Made about a 12-footer with a sand wedge on 12. Hit 4-iron in on 13. Made a 35-footer, downhill, down green, 1-foot break. That was a great putt (laughter). That's it, I think.