KEMPER OPEN

June 6, 1998

Fred Funk

FRED FUNK: Hey, I love seeing you.

FRED FUNK: Fire it up.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, that was tough. 13's been a hole that I didn't -- I haven't had any luck on. It's a hole where everybody is making eagles and birdies. I've played it even par. And the first day I hit a perfect drive and I drew a really bad lie on the fairway. It was in a depression where I couldn't go for it. I drove it over that left rough. You know, you do kind of lose your rhythm. But, I don't know, for some reason I wasn't driving quite as good as I was yesterday. I was early in the round. I definitely lost a little rhythm on the back nine, started to second-guess myself a little bit. I was trying to -- I guess it's hard to guess what you're going to hit with that wind blowing and the elevation that those holes have. The shot I hit on 17 was -- I thought I hit a perfect 6-iron. Greg is up there with the 5-iron and hits it over the green. There's no way I can sit there with a 7-iron and expect it to go over that water. So I swung real solid, I had a 6-iron. It was right exactly where I wanted it to be. Goes in the back bunker, couldn't believe that. That was a little bit of a bad break. I don't know whether it was pumped up or rode a gust of wind or whatever. I was ecstatic over the par I had on 18. Overall, I had a chance to separate myself a little bit there when I got to 14 under. If I could have shot a couple under, three under on the back nine, it would have been really nice to have that kind of lead. Shoot -- it would have been 13, 14. You get to 15 or 16 under, it would have been nice. But, regardless, it's going to be a shootout. It would have been a shootout even with a lead. You have to play the same. Now I can play, you know, there's no conservative golfing tomorrow. You have to just go and play and fire it up. And, you know, I think the way the golf course is playing, it played much more difficult than it has the first two days with the wind blowing. It played more like the way I remember Avenel always playing. You're up there guessing on clubs when you're on 7, 8, 9. And those finishing holes, 15, 16, 17, 18 I think are really tough holes coming in. That was a long-winded answer from what you said on 13. I was trying to just carry it through.

FRED FUNK: The wait at 13, yeah. I mean, that might screw up a little bit of your rhythm and stuff. But that's part of the game. I try not to let it bother me. Just sit there. You know everybody else is going through it, so it's something you've got to deal with.

FRED FUNK: That was big. I hit a terrible drive there. I just fanned it out to the right. I was trying to hit a low hook. When I miss my drives, I tend to miss them to the right. Sure enough, just whiffed that one right over there. Didn't really have a real good lie, but it was real dry grass. It wasn't the real green, lush grass. So it was the kind of lie -- the kind of grass where the club will slide through really good. So I just took the 4-wood and I actually hit it more flush than I anticipated. I thought it was going to fly further than that. When I hit it, I thought it had to get down. It ended up perfect. It was a tough putt, almost like -- well, I did let it get away from me and I made it come back. The last thing I wanted was a three- or four-foot comebacker on that green.

FRED FUNK: First one? First one was probably 20 feet. Just had a big -- it was over one hump and then back down and then a big left-to-righter.

FRED FUNK: Good 3 feet. Yeah, looked like 100 feet. Greens are really -- they're a lot bumpier than they've been and a lot faster than they've been. I thought it played really hard today. I think anybody that shot in the 60s, I don't know what the scoring average was today, but it had to be a bunch more than it was the first two days. Did you figure that out yet?

FRED FUNK: It had to be a lot higher.

FRED FUNK: Well, yeah. I think if I hadn't won a golf tournament yet, and I'm leading this thing going in, that I'd be a lot more uptight. But right now I'm swinging -- my body, feels good. My swing feels good. My eyes were unbelievable today, how good they were. As fuzzy as they were yesterday and the day before, especially my right eye, today everything was crystal clear. It's just what the doctor said they were going to do. So he must know what he's talking about. Thank goodness. That part's fine. I was able to adjust -- I was really happy to see how clear it was today. My depth perception was a lot better today. I could see the ground. So -- and it wasn't fuzzy at all looking at something close. The greens looked crystal clear to me today. Big difference in vision today. Just tougher conditions.

FRED FUNK: Yeah. Especially today. I'm ecstatic of the way it turned out now. I was -- I wasn't concerned, but -- I was a little concerned, I guess. You want it to be right. But Dr. Whitten called me last night, we talked on the phone about 20 minutes. I had a million questions for him again, questions I've asked him over and over. He gave me a lot of confidence, saying we're right where we want to be, and it's still going to be a day-to-day thing for a while. But he's just so positive about it. He says it's going to get better every day, and it has, pretty much. Today was really, really good.

FRED FUNK: It is. The coincidence and the timing of the whole thing, having the tournament I'm having after having something so recent, just on Tuesday, it definitely builds to a story. And, yeah, if I can -- I think regardless of how I do, it's been a big bonus to anybody that's had any hesitation about having the laser surgery on their eyes. I guess technology has come so far, you know, I'm sure there's something else beyond this that's even going to be better. But I'm one that kind of jump the gun a little bit and goes in there full force and, you know, if I have confidence in it, I'm going to go do it. And the doctor gave me the confidence to do it. And then the timing of me playing good, sure, it's going to be a big plus for the industry. He already told me they've had a ton of phone calls and a lot of inquiries about -- really, a lot of appointments have been made to go in there for consultation. They said they've been swamped on the telephone all week. So, it's already happening.

FRED FUNK: Well, I was trying to -- boy, that's hard to answer. I was trying not to make any mistakes. And coming -- I was trying to give myself a chance to make some birdies and separate myself in the field. I hit myself -- I hit a tee shot on 14 and that put me in that first cut. That was a really hard pin to get close anyway. I really wasn't trying to get close to it, I was trying to land it 30 feet short of where I landed it. It landed pin high. But I wanted it back. It just jumped out of that first cut. But I was too far back, not really knowing where the wind was, to hit a sand wedge, so I hit the pitching wedge. I had a really easy up-and-down there. That one was a little bit of a blow to me because I really had -- I made some great saves here and there and great putts when I had to, and then there I was, I really had a chip that was makeable and I was thinking I could roll that thing down there and even make it, and I stubbed it. I hit a little bit behind it. I was even conscious of not hitting behind it, and I moved it further back in my stance and I still did it. I'm going to go work on that as soon as I'm done with you guys, in case I have that shot again tomorrow.

FRED FUNK: No. My wife wouldn't let me wear a Tiger outfit, I don't think. No, I won't wear that. I'll have black paints on, but...

FRED FUNK: Actually, Maryland colors are black and red. We had a team uniform that was black and red. I didn't bring a red shirt with me, so I don't have one. Also, black and white. Yellow and red. That would look good, yellow and red. Hah!

FRED FUNK: Well, you know what was funny at Boston, I never panicked that day. I lost my lead early. Jim McGovern went crazy early on me. I birdied the first hole, so did my whole group. We all birdied the first hole that day. It was a par 3, in fact, which is rare. But we all made 2s. And I still had the four-shot lead. And then we went on and McGovern makes birdies and made this bomb eagle on the fourth hole. Now I lost my lead on number 6 and I didn't panic. I said, okay the tournament is on. Well, I really shouldn't say what my caddie told me walking. Can I tell them, Randy? Yeah, I can tell them. Well, I'll clean it up just a little bit. He said that -- the way he said it, he says a dog poops fast, won't poop long. That's cleaning it up. That's what Jim was doing, he was referring to Jim and everybody else in the field that made a run at me. He said already, all these guys already did all their pooping, now they're done. I said fine. Kind of made me laugh. And then I just started playing. And even though I still struggled and I lost my -- actually lost my lead, I got to the part of the golf course in New England where it really favors my game and I got comfortable again. All of a sudden you're 13 going in, the trees just come in on you and it's really, really tight. And I was swinging good all day. So it wasn't a problem with hitting it, it was a matter of whether I was going to have the feel with the putter or not. I relaxed coming in, and fortunately nobody kept making a run at me and I was able to birdie the last hole and win.

FRED FUNK: Right. I said yesterday that if -- I didn't know what the weather forecast was, but I knew it was supposed to clear up. And usually on the front end of that high there's a lot of wind with it. It wasn't as windy as I thought it could have been today. But that's when this golf course plays hard. And then all of a sudden, 68, 69 is a really good number. And the first day, 64s and 5s and 3s were good numbers. So, you know, there was a lot of them out there. So, it's still a position, you know, it is a golf course -- you can get going in tough conditions, still shoot a 65 and then lap everybody. But I don't see that -- I mean it could happen, but I don't really see that happening if it's conditions like this tomorrow. Unless they put a lot of water on those greens, which I don't think they'll do either.

FRED FUNK: Thanks.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, I got a little tentative in spots.

FRED FUNK: It's called Leading Edge, it's the putter that guys like McCarron and all those guys have with the long putter. It's the head that they use on that, it's real heavy, but he made a few of them out in L.A., had a bunch of them in his bag that was cutting down on standard length. I was trying it. It felt really good, but it weighed so much and I wasn't sure about it. Then I continued to keep struggling with my putter. So I took the week off in Dallas and got the putter out. And the practice greens were like lightening, my speed was really good with it. I said okay, it felt good. I said this thing could be better than I thought. So I gave it a chance at Colonial, the first tournament out when I came back, and I didn't putt real good the first round, but I putted pretty good, then really good the next three days. I said this thing is in the bag. I really like the way it feels. Just that these greens are -- they just seem so much faster. That touch faster today, and bumpier today, all at the same time with the footprints and poa annua. I was trying to be -- I didn't want to be too aggressive, but I left myself -- where I left them short, I had some tough putts. And it was really hard to keep -- first you got to get on line, then you got to hope -- I hit a couple putts that I thought were right where I wanted to hit. Number 9, I hit a great putt on number 9, I thought, and it was going right to the hole and it just kept -- all of a sudden it started hopping, hit footprints or poa annua, and starting juking to the left and missed. But, that's the same for everybody that was playing late. I'm not the only one. I think you just got to be a lot more careful on them. That last putt, I had on that comeback here on 18, I was a nervous wreck on that one because it looked real bumpy, a lot of people were walking right there. I think every person in the field ran it by the hole on that side. So it was pretty pocked up.

FRED FUNK: Everybody puts -- there's so much emphasis on winning. And it's just the way the mentality of people in the public perceive sports. If you finish second in the World Series, nobody remembers that; second in the Stanley Cup, they're not going to remember that. So you get that far. So everybody gauges everything on wins, and for me, I just like to win regular golf tournaments. If I ever won a major, it would be unbelievable. Other guys are gauging their careers on winning majors. I haven't reached that plateau yet. To win at home would be a huge plateau to reach. I would love to do that. Hey, shorty!

FRED FUNK: Oh, yeah, is that who I'm playing with, Stuart?

FRED FUNK: Yeah, he's a great guy, unbelievable talent. Hits the ball a mile with no effort. So that would be something a little more to deal with than I've had to deal with. But, you know, I just have to play my game and he play his. He can -- he's one of the kind of guys that can really overpower a golf course. He has enough swing speed, clubhead speed and strength in his game where he can really take it out there and have a situation where he can reach the longer holes out here with a lot less effort.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, I was conscious of where it was. I've always been a leaderboard watcher. I just -- I like to know what everybody else is doing, not only how I'm doing, I like to know what everybody else is doing. And the guys are so good out here, I was wondering if somebody was shooting six or seven under today. But I just saw everybody was kind of hanging right where they were. What did Stuart shoot? One under?

FRED FUNK: Do I have a two-shot lead or one-shot lead? He's 11, I'm 12? Okay, okay.

FRED FUNK: Chris DiMarco is ten. They got it going. They played really good coming in, sounded like. What little I saw. Anyway.

FRED FUNK: Charles?

FRED FUNK: Okay.

End of FastScripts....