Funk, Finchem showdown wraps up Giving Back Week

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THE PLAYERS Championship contributes to a diverse group of charities throughout Northeast Florida, living by the PGA TOUR's mission to give back to the communities in which it plays. Since 1977, when THE PLAYERS moved to Ponte Vedra, more than $28 million has been contributed to Northeast Florida charities, ranging from health care to youth and education to human services. From Nov. 17-21, representatives from the PGA TOUR and THE PLAYERS Championship, along with several TOUR players, will visit different charitable organizations in Jacksonville as part of "Giving Back Week."
MORE: Photo gallery | Giving Back Week archive

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Put a golf club and ball in Fred Funk's hands, and he is unstoppable when it comes to THE PLAYERS Stadium Course. Put a Nintendo Wii controller in his hands and ... well, it's a different story.

Condon/PGA TOUR

PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem "tees it up" in "Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09".

Funk and three senior citizen teammates took on Commissioner Tim Finchem and a trio of participants in a Virtual Challenge Wii Tournament at THE PLAYERS Community Senior Center on Friday.

The competition took place on the "Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09" game over the final four holes of TPC Sawgrass. It really occurred on the flatscreen televisions at the Senior Center, of course, but that didn't stop Funk from acting like it was 2005, the year he won the PLAYERS Championship.

Each member of the four-man teams played a hole, with Funk and Finchem as anchors. The entire Funk family participated in the festivities, with Fred's wife Sharon and daughter Perri acting as official standard bearers for Teams Funk and Finchem, while Funk's son Taylor offered some much needed Wii coaching advice to dad.

Finchem's team got on the board early with a birdie on No. 15, while Funk's team only made par. When it came time for the next group to play the 16th hole, Funk decided to use a little smack talk to get into his opponent's head.

He saw that Finchem's teammate was accidentally aiming her second shot toward the water behind the green.

"That's good, hit it there," Funk joked. His coaching -- or should we say coaxing? -- didn't work, however, and the room erupted into applause when Finchem's team moved to 3-under through two holes when she sank an eagle putt. Funk's team made birdie then moved onto the 17th hole.

The island green was kinder to Team Finchem than Team Funk, as the Commissioner's team made birdie. When Funk's teammate was left with a long putt -- it was close, Funk pointed out, to where Tiger Woods' famous "Better than Most" putt sat in 2001 -- coach Funk chimed in again.

"I don't want to say anything, but you really need to make this," the eight-time PGA TOUR winner said. The birdie putt fell short, though, leaving Funk's team without much chance going into No. 18.

As the Commissioner removed his suit jacket to prepare for the matchup, Funk asked if they could play in real life instead of on the Wii. But the Commissioner had been practicing and wasn't fazed by that or Funk's teasing comments made during his "backswing."

Funk did wind up with a birdie on the hole, and the Commissioner made par, but it was Finchem's team who prevailed in the end. Henry Hughes, the CEO of THE PLAYERS Championship, presented a crystal bowl to the winning team.

"I'd like to thank all the fans who came out today for their great support," Finchem said, in a mock victory speech to the dozens of people who came out for the contest.

Condon/PGA TOUR

After getting some advice from his son, Funk competes in the Wii competition.

It was all fun and games Friday, but the event was about more than just a good time. When Funk struck the first putt on a new putting green -- courtesy of THE PLAYERS Championship -- near the Community Senior Center, he urged the senior citizens to get together and use the green to hone their skills. In addition to the putting green, the center also offers acrylic painting classes, ballet lessons, calligraphy, fitness and even a Wii bowling tournament.

The center, which opened in June 2007 thanks to an initial contribution of $300,000 from THE PLAYERS, watched its membership grow from 100 to 1,300 in a little over a year and a half as it filled a need for the community.

"At the start of your career, you are so focused on your career that you hear about charity but don't really see the impact. In the past five or six years, I've really started to see it. Really in the last two years, with Giving Back Week, I'm really starting to see the impact in Jacksonville. It's staggering to think about (the PGA TOUR's) 'Drive to a Billion'," Funk said, of the PGA TOUR's milestone event in 2005 when they announced that over $1 billion had been given to charities by the TOUR since 1938.

"It's a feel good thing. We are so exposed to negative stuff in the media, but this is a positive thing, and I'm glad to be a part of it."

He also added that, since he's on the Champions Tour and a "senior citizen" now, he's proud to see the impact THE PLAYERS Championship has had on the local community and specifically the senior center.

Friday's activity was the last event in "Giving Back Week", THE PLAYERS Championship's annual event to highlight the Northern Florida charities that benefit from one of the TOUR's top tournaments. Over $3 million was raised for 94 different organizations from the 2008 event and more than $31 million has been raised in total by the tournament for charities.

Giving Back Week kicked off on Monday, when four teams of tournament volunteers, THE PLAYERS Championship Red Coats (past tournament chairmen) and PGA TOUR staff members personally delivered approximately $200,000 to 16 local charities. PGA TOUR player Frank Lickliter tagged along for the "Red Coat Ride Out."

On Tuesday, '88 PLAYERS Champion and Ponte Vedra Beach resident Mark McCumber helped create a work of art for The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. Thanks to THE PLAYERS Championship, the museum in Ponte Vedra Beach will be open to the public for free every Tuesday from 4-9 p.m. To bring attention to that event, McCumber and several local television stations' sports directors fired paint-soaked golf balls at a blank canvas then left their "art" to be auctioned off later for charity.

Jim Furyk and his wife Tabitha made a surprise appearance at North Shore K-8 MicroSociety School to honor the 14 Teach for America teachers there. Furyk spoke with the school's fifth graders, then answered questions and hit golf shots at targets as a metaphor for striving towards "hitting their goals."

Thursday's event featured 2009 PGA TOUR rookie and Jacksonville local Jeff Klauk who offered his time to help the city's working poor and homeless population. Klauk and others offered a hot lunch to a grateful crowd, who also received flu shots and free medical attention from the new Beaches Community Healthcare Clinic. The clinic and BEAM, a local emergency assistance ministry that provides food for the homeless, receive donations from THE PLAYERS Championship.

To learn more about Giving Back Week and view pictures from each event, click here.