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By Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

SCOTTSDALE -- It doesn't take much. A handshake here, an appearance there.

Going, perhaps, just a little above and beyond.

Twin-Tour wizard Fred Funk has been there, seen the difference it makes when Champions Tour players reach out to the sponsors and amateur playing partners. And he'd like to see more of it on the PGA TOUR.

Fred Funk enjoys the appreciation the Champions Tour players show toward sponsors. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

"It's a conscious thing that they do out there to try and make sure the sponsors are happy," Funk said. "But everybody's willingness to do it has been -- and the fun they're having while they're doing it -- is really (noticed). I really enjoy that. I enjoy being a part of that and seeing that.''

Funk, who won the Turtle Bay Championship Sunday, but plans to play predominantly on the PGA TOUR in 2007, said the Champions Tour wouldn't be what it is if players like Hale Irwin didn't spend several hours after their rounds at pro-am parties or special dinners.

That's not something that happens frequently on the PGA TOUR where players go their own ways at the end of the day. Funk, who's teeing it up in this week's FBR Open, thinks TOUR players need to follow the 50-plus players' leads.

"(Champions Tour players) seem to see the big picture because they've been out on the Tour for so long and they know what the Tour is all about and they know how important it is to make everybody happy and not take for granted things that are given to us out on the Tour,'' Funk said. "I mean, we're catered to, and on the big TOUR, everybody is trying to do everything they can to be better than the other tournament and cater to the players and the guys on the Champions Tour, it just seems to be a little higher level of consciousness to give back.

"I like that. I'm really pleased with the way the Champions Tour handles their sponsor relations and things like that.''

Not that sponsor relations aren't good on the PGA TOUR, he said, but "I just think they can see the big picture a little more than like our young kids who are coming out. They don't understand the big picture yet. They're still in awe of what we're playing for and that they've made the TOUR. I think they've got to say, hey this may not last forever here; you've got to not take it for granted.''

As for Funk? His schedule includes about a half dozen Champions Tour events this year and the rest on the PGA TOUR, giving him a chance to practice and preach over-50 mantras out on "the big TOUR.''

"I still have unfinished business in my mind out here,'' he said. "I want to see how long I can stay competitive on the regular TOUR. My game will tell me when to move on.''