KEMPER OPEN

June 4, 1998

Fred Funk

FRED FUNK: Got off to a really good start on the front nine. I birdied two and hit a nice putt there from about 8 feet, I guess. Then on number 4 I had a real easy chip, and I chipped that in and then I birdied five. I had my first kind of lucky break on 6. I had took way too much club, really, to make sure I got over the creek and blocked it. But I blocked it into the tree. But it went through the tree and on the right side of the green. And I two-putted from about 100 feet there. And then I birdied 8. I hit it over the green in the back left bunker, and that's a real deep bunker. I was just trying to get it close and hold it. I shoot 5 under up front. I played real solid the first -- 10, 11 can get you. 10 seems to get me every year. I was conscious of not trying to have that one get me. I had a birdie putt there and a birdie putt on 11, and missed them. Then I made a long birdie putt on 12. Then I got -- I know you don't want to keep hearing it, but I got a really good drive on 13. Could have easily got it on two. Caught a bad lie on the fairway and another bad lie when I laid up in the rough or in the fairway -- in the divot. So I couldn't go through the pin there. So I had to shoot for par on that hole when I didn't get a good enough drive to get on the green. That was frustrating. Then I made a good birdie putt on 14. 15 was the shot I hit at the term and hit a 5-iron in there, fed it down the hill about 2 feet. 16 I had my first bad drive and had to chip out and actually had a good shot at par. But I missed that one. And then got up on 17. 18, I caught a horrendous line of fairway. Had to go to the right side of the green. Didn't hit it good enough to get it up on the green. Had a first great putt to two-putt. Long way out. So it was really good putting round. Something that I've never done well here at Avenel, I don't know why, I have a hard time reading these greens. You know, they consider me a local guy, but I don't know this course very well, I guess. But it was fun to finally play good at least one day, whether I do it the next two or three or whatever, to play good at least once here at home. And it means a lot to me. It's meant a lot to me to play good here. And I haven't -- I know I haven't made the cut two years in a row. I don't know if it's been three or not. Anyway, it's been a frustrating experience here at Avenel for me in all the years, and it feels really good to finally get to the press room and have something to talk about that's positive here.

FRED FUNK: Well, I never know I'm on. I just struggle -- I was really just trying to hit shots. I was in a real relaxed frame of mind. I'm just trying to take the attitude if I play good, great; if I don't, I don't. I was trying to do that even more often on the weeks -- I totally lost my patience earlier this year, really frustrated with my game. Things just weren't coming together. And I was just getting too mad and I actually hurt my caddie. By accident, but I hurt him in Atlanta. That kind of woke me up. I tossed a club and hit him in the wrong spot. I was trying to hit the bag, and I hit him. But that woke me up to just saying that, you know, this is ridiculous to keep getting so mad. So I'm just out there putting, I shot 75 the first two rounds of the last two weeks -- first round -- the first rounds of the last two weeks. And came back and made the cut. Actually, the 75s were save 75s where I was shooting 78, 79, 77. I made some putts coming in to save the 75 on both tournaments, in Colonial and Memorial. I wasn't upset. I was just, you know, okay, I shot 75, went out the next day, played really good and made the cuts in both of those tournaments. Played solid from there in both tournaments. For some reason, Thursday's round was getting to me. That was kind of in the back of my mind here. That and being in Avenel and not having a good history here. I didn't know what to expect. And I just had eye surgery, so I had no idea what to expect there either.

FRED FUNK: My curiosity got up early when I saw Tom Kite had it, talked to him about it. It's the laser surgery, the newest one. It helped his. I had a bad stigmatism. I didn't actually know my eyes were as bad as they were until I got tested on Tuesday. But I really just got frustrated with the contacts I had all the time. Every morning I had to put them in. Sometimes I'd get them in right, sometimes I had dirt on them. It just got real frustrating. I wanted to see if I could eliminate having contacts. I went and had the checkup with Dr. Whitten here in town, and the test went pretty good. He just says, you know, you're definitely a candidate if you want to have it, we can do it this afternoon if you want. You could wait, you can do whatever you want. I'm always impatient so I said all right, let's go. I had it done Tuesday afternoon. And yesterday was my first day playing. I could see -- actually, yesterday I was a lot more -- my left eye was crystal clear. My right eye was a little fuzzy. I was fuzzy looking right here, looking where the ball is. Today is the same way. My depth perception is off a little bit. But today I woke up, my left eye was fuzzier than my right was even yesterday. So it was a little fuzzier than I was. But I can still see better than I saw with contacts. I'm just adjusting to not seeing close up as well yet. And he says it's still a three-month adjusting time for your eyes to heal. And, actually, I just wanted to get it done. It's always risky, he said any time you do surgery. Anytime you're playing with -- playing at this level out here. And it could really screw you up. Probably looking back, I should have been a little more hesitant. But he has a great reputation. A lot of people that's had it had a lot of success with it. So I went along with it.

FRED FUNK: It was just a nuisance more than anything. Sometimes I get sand in them from a bunker shot or the wind would bother me a little bit or I'd have something on my finger and it wouldn't be completely clean and I'd have a smudge. I've had a lot of putts over the years, even shots-- usually it's in my left eye, my dominate eye, and I'd look down and have a blind spot or blurry spot on the lens, and I look through it, just can't clean it. Out here, you don't even have any time to switch, to do anything. I just can't take one out. I can get it out quick, but can't get it in real quick. Your hands are usually dirty in the middle of the round, so you're stuck with it all the time. Pace of play, you just can't -- you can't be sitting there fighting with your lenses all the time. Anyway, it would be nice to be able to get to the point where you wake up in the morning and see the alarm clock and everything and just get up and go.

FRED FUNK: Yeah. Yesterday I was really seeing really good. I don't know what it was yesterday. My left eye was crystal clear. I felt like I had binoculars in my eyes. Today is a little fuzzier but he said it's a constant going back and forth with it for a while. In fact, I'm going to go see him this afternoon and get them checked again. He said come on in. He's real nervous. He called me last night. He said, hey, how you feeling? How'd you do. I said I'm still adjusting to it. He said he didn't sleep a wink the night before.

FRED FUNK: He's gone from being what I thought was legally blind to 20/15 in one eye. And that gets your attention. And then David Leadbetter knows Dr. Whitten. He told Nick Faldo and Nick Faldo's girlfriend, and Fanny, the caddie, had it five weeks ago. They're doing great. Kite did it with a guy out in Denver, a different guy. But Dr. Whitten is the best here on the east. And he's the best guy in the west.

FRED FUNK: Faldo didn't have it done; his girlfriend had it done. And Fanny had it done.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, W-H-I-T-T-E-N. I think. Good publicity for him.

FRED FUNK: No, I've -- I heard -- everybody heard about them. Yesterday I walked up, I heard you're getting eye surgery. I said how the hell did you know? Apparently everybody knows who he is. He must advertise very good.

FRED FUNK: Tuesday afternoon.

FRED FUNK: How did they do it? They take -- put drops in your eyes to numb it. Then they put this cream on it. It has suction on it. That's a the only thing that's a little unpleasant because it's pressure pulling on your eyeball, but it stabilizes your eye. Look into the beam, they cut -- take the lens off, I guess. You can see it. It just peels back, and all of a sudden everything is real blurry, but you can still see the light. You stare in it for 30 seconds. The laser is doing whatever it's supposed to be doing. You can kind of smell it burning a little bit. I didn't like that. Then -- and then he says, okay, we're done with that. The noise stops, he puts the flap back and it self-seals. Your eye self-seals itself, so there's no stitches. I don't know, whatever the membrane is in there, it does its own healing. And all of a sudden, it was a little fuzzy, but it was 20/30 when I walked out of there.

FRED FUNK: I'm not sure. I thought I was 20/60 or something. According to this one chart, I was 20/300. I had no idea I was that bad. He said mainly because of the stigmatism. I couldn't read letters that big (indicating). It was ridiculous.

FRED FUNK: I hadn't heard that until you just said that. Thanks a lot. I'll focus on that tomorrow.

FRED FUNK: That always looks small.

FRED FUNK: Really my distance vision is better. I'm not seeing as clear on the greens yet as I thought I would. I'm using my caddie. He's been lining me -- I'm really using him a lot here to get lined up. I could see the ball easily when it flies out into the fairway. I didn't hit far anyway, but I can see where it ends up. I could do it with contacts, but my contact prescription was bad too. I wasn't picking that up very good.

FRED FUNK: The problems right now, I'm having trouble, it's still blurry looking down. I'm really not sure where the ground is. Yesterday, I hit balls when I first came out getting ready for the Pro-Am. I almost whiffed the first ten balls. I had no idea where the ground was. I felt taller though. That felt good. First time in my life I felt tall. Then Charles Mann walked up.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, it did. It was -- it was neat. I still got some adjusting to do. I have to talk to him. I'm sure every case is different, how they do it.

FRED FUNK: It was pretty spur-of-the-moment, other than -- I've been thinking about it. But really to do it in mid season like this is probably pretty stupid.

FRED FUNK: Well, I used to.

FRED FUNK: About 15 years now. When I started coaching, I noticed driving down the roads at night, the road signs got worse. I said uh-oh, better get checked.

FRED FUNK: It's fuzzy. But it looks bigger down there, I don't know. I don't know. I just had a good day and, you know, I got a long way to go. I have a long way to go I think with my eyes, and I have a long way to go in this tournament. It's just getting used to the new deal, you know. I definitely changed something, so I have to adjust to it.

FRED FUNK: No, that's one thing he told me. Yeah, the doctor said the worst-case scenario is that you won't adjust real well and you'll have to withdraw from the tournament. I said, well, all right. I'll go.

FRED FUNK: He said it was a one percent chance. I said well, if you can say it's one percent and the quicker you do it, the quicker you can adjust, that made me decide to go and do it. It's very minimal chance of having a problem. That -- to that degree. I was a little worried when I hit those first ten balls though yesterday.

FRED FUNK: I didn't whiff them, but almost.

FRED FUNK: I think everybody should. I had no idea mine were as bad as they were. I've been so dependent on the lenses. I knew they were bad when I took them out, everything was fuzzy. I thought it was a little blurry. I didn't realize until I actually read that chart.

FRED FUNK: No, he was supposed to be the best around.

FRED FUNK: No, he's busy doing a lot more. He's got surgery this afternoon. It's such a quick procedure, only takes ten minutes. Unbelievable.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, it makes me feel better. Actually, that is a concern. It would have been -- well, I still got a long way to go. But if I came to term and my first round is 85 with my new eyes, that would give me a little scare. I'd have been running back to him right now. I wouldn't be in here, I'd be back at the office, fix me, back.

FRED FUNK: I know this is my best round all year, probably my best round in two years score-wise. I didn't have any real low ones last year that I remember. Did I, Randy?

FRED FUNK: You usually know everything. But I had a bunch of low ones in '96 and '95.

FRED FUNK: No, this surprises -- no. It's a surprise to me as anybody else. I'm sure a lot of other people were surprised too, but I'm pretty surprised just because it really is a big adjustment. It's not an automatic deal. Yesterday, I was -- like I said, going home last night, it was dark when I got done with the Pro-Am last night. And going home, I could read every license -- I'm going man, this is great, I can read every license, this is unbelievable. I wake up this morning, and the alarm clock was fuzzy again. I'm going oh, man. I'm sure it's going to be bouncing back and forth a little bit.

FRED FUNK: Almost -- as far as length, we're, all three, almost identical. That part is really good, as far as getting into a club situation. And off the tee, you don't have a Tiger, John Daly or somebody else driving about 150 yards. But not that that bothers me, but it's a lot more fun when all three of you hit it the same distance and play the course. It was nice to play with Justin, a guy that has had a lot of success here, obviously winning last year, and see how he plays a golf course. I was actually watching to know how he attacks and does it, and where he attacks and doesn't attack the golf course with his game and make note of that. He basically does the same thing I do, at least with my thinking the way the golf course is played today. I think we played it identical up the tee, three woods the same time, drivers at the same time. Everything was identical. We both missed clubs on 17 the same way. Yeah?

FRED FUNK: That was a 5-iron. Again, you're out there on the fairway with -- that hill sets you in a little funny angle. You have the whole green to help you feed that way. I was trying to use that hill, actually thought I missed the hill a little bit to the right. I hit the shot I wanted to hit. And then it just had enough to catch the hill and then roll down. But it was fun to watch it. That was a fun shot, because it took so long to finally get to where it was. I was just standing there waiting.

FRED FUNK: You like this eye thing, don't you?

FRED FUNK: I don't know. I don't hit it far enough to never not see it. No, 13 got up over the hill. I couldn't see it. There you go. No, I could see -- it was pretty much the same with my contacts.

FRED FUNK: It wasn't that long. That was a good putt.

FRED FUNK: It really did. It felt that way on the front. I shot 5 under on the front and I played real solid, but I did get a break and you don't hole bunker shots like number 8 very often either. So that was kind of a magical nine holes for me. I walked off to 10 and said, you know, that was fun. Finally I had something that was fun, even all year, but basically here in Avenel it was really fun to have something. And the crowds, you know, I had a pretty good crowd. With Justin in the group and Scott being a local guy, we had a pretty good crowd out there, it got bigger and bigger I guess. It was fun, giving them something to cheer for. I actually got a little concerned on -- I hit the bad drive on 16. 17, 18 -- 17 always gives me fits. I never know what to hit on that hole. I didn't want to -- definitely didn't want to bogey there, after I bogeyed 16. 18, I was looking to bogey again after that second shot. So I wanted to finish good. So it made me feel really good that I did manage to save pars on both holes and almost saved par on 16. That was the only really bad ball I hit, that was a terrible putt. I don't know what I did there. Just lost it to the right.

FRED FUNK: No, I didn't know what the course record was. I actually was thinking when I birdied -- I birdied 14, I said -- I was walking up there, said it would be pretty neat if I could birdie the last four and shoot 60. I was already thinking that. Then I birdied 15. So now I'm thinking, 16 I actually like. That's one of my favorite holes and that was the one I bogeyed here. So, I had good thoughts coming in. I didn't know what the course record was though.

FRED FUNK: No. I talk to myself a lot.

FRED FUNK: Usually out loud.

FRED FUNK: You mean from the putt or from the fairway?

FRED FUNK: I had such a bad lie of fairway, I was trying to get it over on the right side. If I happened to catch it good, I was hoping I could hit it solid enough to curve in it in there left to right. I totally whiffed it. It's a hard two-putt from anywhere on that right side on the green, it's such a big green. I was real pleased, especially hitting it within that. I didn't have to think too much on the second one.

FRED FUNK: You don't?

FRED FUNK: Chip-in on 6 was probably total 20 feet. Just off the edge -- actually, I walked up to that, my caddie said I love the look of this one. I said I looked at it, and I said yeah, it does. I looked at it, and there was no doubt when I hit the green. And now 8, that was a different story there. I had a really hard shot there, it was over a hump, a deep bunker, then there was a little mound between me and the hole on the green. So I had to get it over that and just trying to feed it down. I hit it with a whole lot of spin. I flew it a little further than I wanted, but I knew it had a lot of spin on it, I knew it was going to be close. I didn't think it was going to go in. That was neat. That was one of those -- that's like a fan shot. You know.

FRED FUNK: That was probably 50 feet, at least, from the hole. Probably 60.

FRED FUNK: As short as I am, I couldn't see over that.

FRED FUNK: 4 was 20 feet, 8 feet on 2. About 10 feet on 5.

FRED FUNK: 6 was a two-putt. 12 was 35, 40 feet at least. 14 was 20 feet. 15 was 2 feet. 16 was a bad drive.

FRED FUNK: On 16?

FRED FUNK: Yeah, most. 10 or 12 feet.

FRED FUNK: That was a long one. I don't know. I was on the front edge.

FRED FUNK: 24, I was 24 yards.

FRED FUNK: Oh, mine?

FRED FUNK: Mine, that's a result of that cream they put on there. They said I broke a little blood vessel on that. That heals up in a week. I talked to Kite a lot about it in L.A. We were out on the range together. We talked about it. He gave me a lot of information. He was just so upbeat about it and how easy it was. I didn't want -- then when I talked to Fanny about it, and then Lee's girlfriend and the caddie, that was solidified it a little bit. Especially that it was here locally.

FRED FUNK: That back left bunker, the long back left bunker. Right in the bottom of it. I had a perfect lie. Actually, the sand was the kind of sand you can't spin it a lot. It wasn't fluffy, it was a little hardpacked. That particular shot was a real easy one as far as hitting it the way I wanted to hit it. In fact, I holed it in that respect. All right? That it? Hope to keep seeing you.