Age just a number for Funk  PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator Don't call him old. Fred Funk is anything but over the hill, a fact he demonstrated Sunday by winning on the PGA TOUR less than a month after picking up his second Champions Tour victory. In a popular spring break locale, the 50-year-old Funk felt right at home and beat Jose Coceres on the second playoff hole at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun. "I love hearing guys, especially guys closer to my age, that believe they can't compete out here anymore. Then I don't have to worry about them every week," said Funk. "Anybody that's negative and anybody that's questioning my ability and they are questioning their own abilities out here the way they can compete, that just gives me more motivation than anything."  Fred Funk is currently 20th in the FedExCup Standings and 10th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. (Ehrmann/WireImage)
Funk's been busy since the start of the year, playing two Champions Tour events and one PGA TOUR tournament in Hawaii, then the FBR Open, the Nissan Open and the Mayakoba Golf Classic. By winning that event, he became the first to win a PGA TOUR event held in Mexico. This week, Funk is competing again on the PGA TOUR at The Honda Classic. He remembers playing at its new home, the PGA National Resort and Spa, back in 1987 for the PGA Championship. "It was in August and obviously super-duper hot. The Bermuda rough was really deep. It was like four-inch Bermuda rough. I just remember being quoted, 'it was like lining the fairways with water hazards because it's just chip-out rough,'" recalls Funk. "I also remember I was leading after 22 holes, and I was a club pro back then and I panicked and I wasn't leading for much longer after I panicked. But I wouldn't expect that to happen now if I got in the lead." That's because the more experienced and wiser Funk now has eight PGA TOUR victories under his belt, including a victory at the 2005 PLAYERS Championship, where he became the oldest player to win the event at age 48. He's a long way from his start as a golf coach the University of Maryland, his alma mater. Funk led the Terrapins' golf team from 1982-88 while he was in his late 20s and early 30s. He said he learned early that he couldn't compete with the big-time golf schools, but chose instead to recruit guys who wanted to work on their game while having some fun. "I was one of the kids when I was coaching," Funk said. "I had guys my first year who were teammates of mine, my first two years of coaching, and that was impossible. I mean, there was no discipline on my team at all. 'No drinking guys.' Yeah, sure. Then the pitchers would be flowing. I just gave them an opportunity to play against the best competition and let them go." Now it's Funk who's competing against the best in the world -- and winning, to boot. He plans to spend most of his time on TOUR, playing in 26 or 27 events before the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. That's not to say he doesn't like the Champions Tour; Funk's just not ready to leave the PGA TOUR. "I love the Champions Tour. The guys out there have been great. The atmosphere out there is fantastic...It's actually a breath of fresh air when I do go out there, because it is more relaxed and it's still competitive," said Funk. He won the Turtle Bay Championship on the Champions Tour and, after winning in Cancun last week, became just the second player to win a PGA TOUR and a Champions Tour event in the same year while a member of both Tours. Craig Stadler did the same in 2003, winning three times on the Champions Tour as well as the B.C. Open. Raymond Floyd won the 1992 Doral-Ryder Open and later won three times on the Champions Tour that year, but his PGA TOUR win came before his 50th birthday. Funk sees his success on both Tours as an indicator of the strength of talent on the Champions Tour. He dominated at the Turtle Bay Championship, winning by a record 11 strokes. "I feel like I'm indirectly helping the Champions Tour by staying out here and having success on this TOUR and it brings more notoriety when I do go play over there," Funk said. "It's a fluke to win by 11 when I won at Turtle Bay. My putter was smoking. You throw that one out. It's tough to win anywhere. The competition out there is very strong. The guys are very motivated. They still want to win. They have been playing competitive golf their whole lives. Funk thinks the biggest difference between the guys on the Champions Tour and the PGA TOUR pros is attitude. If they feel that they can't compete each week, he thinks most guys choose to play sporadically on the PGA TOUR and focus on the Champions Tour instead. As one of the youngest players on the Champions Tour, Funk knows he has a physical advantage but doesn't think he would dominate out there. "I don't think they are scared of me by any means, that's for sure," he said. "I don't think I've ever intimidated anybody to that point. There's only one guy that really intimidates anybody and that's Tiger." He plans to play the Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach on the Champions Tour, less than an hour from his home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Other than that, Funk wants to add more wins to his PGA TOUR resume. And the 5-foot-8 fan favorite wants to continue to inspire the little guy. "I think a lot of guys can identify with me. I always hear when I walk through the galleries, 'Hey, way to go for the old guys; way to go for the way little guys; way to go for the short hitters; way to go for the cross-dressers.' I hear it all. You wear a skirt once you're a cross-dresser for Pete's sakes. As far as they know I did it once," joked Funk, referring to the 2005 Merrill-Lynch Skins Game when he donned a pink flowered skirt after partner Annika Sorenstam outdrove him. "It's fun to be the every day guy or every man's man I guess. Because I'm not the prototypical new -- or the new prototype golfer body right now. Most of these guys are like six-foot to six-three and they are lean and look like Olympic swimmers and they have this instant leverage with the golf club and hit the ball miles, and that's all the more reason why I want to see how long I can last." |
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