Third round: Funk shoots 65, hopes to win first major
SUNRIVER,Ore. (AP) -- For the first time in his career, Fred Funk will enter the final round of a major tournament with the lead.
"I'll be a little nervous or have some anxiety tomorrow," said the 52-year-old Funk, who led after two rounds at the U.S. Senior Open two weeks ago. "But I think if you don't have that, there is something wrong with you."
Funk moved into position for his first major victory on the Champions Tour, shooting a bogey-free 7-under 65 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Jay Haas after the third round of the JELD-WEN Tradition.
Funk, the winner of the season-opening MasterCard Championship at Hualalai, had a 16-under 200 total on the Crosswater Club course -- one stroke off the 54-hole record in the tournament.
Haas, the Senior PGA Championship winner in May, shot a 66. Tim Simpson (69) was 13 under, and Tom Watson (68), Joe Ozaki (64), Scott Hoch (66) and Mike Goodes (69) were another stroke back. Scott Simpson (67) and Bernhard Langer (72) were 10 under. Langer and Tim Simpson were tied for the second-round lead.
Funk, an eight-time champion on the PGA TOUR and three-time winner on the 50-and-over tour, had four birdies in a front-nine 32 and came home in 33 with birdies on three of the last four holes.
"With the greens the way they are, I figured I had to shoot 67 or better to have any chance of being near the leaders," Funk said.
Funk, planning to play the PGA TOUR full-time next year, sought treatment for a sore neck from a chiropractor after his rounds Thursday and Friday. One of the most accurate drivers on tour, Funk hit every fairway in regulation Saturday.
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The par-5, 582-yard 2nd hole played to a stroke average of 4.731, which is 0.269 strokes under par.
The par-3, 232-yard 17th hole played to a 3.224 scoring average on Saturday.| Round of the Day | ||
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SCHEDULE NOTE
Due to the chance of thunderstorms tomorrow in Sunriver, Ore., tee times for the final round of the JELD-WEN Tradition will begin two hours earlier at 7:15 a.m. Pacific.
INJURED SIMPSON STILL FIGHTING
The sneeze was certainly not a blessing. Especially not after all that Tim Simpson's been through with injuries.
Simpson had to withdraw (more on that later) from the U.S. Senior Open in Colorado Springs, Colo., so he and his wife traveled to their second home in Montana. About four days into their trip, Simpson was cooking dinner and talking to his wife when he sneezed and pulled a muscle in his ribs.
Because of that injury and another incurred in Colorado, he hardly picked up a club for 12 to 13 days and certainly didn't play 18 holes. That didn't stop him, though, from coming into the next major of the season, the JELD-WEN Tradition, and making a huge impression. He took the lead with back-to-back 67s on Thursday and Friday, then shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday for solo third heading into the final round.
Simpson's prior injury list is long and has been well-chronicled. As young as age seven, Simpson severed a tendon in his left thumb and only has about 70 percent of average flexibility in it. He battled Lyme disease in 1991, which caused so much muscle damage he's still in pain to this day. Then he had the dangerous but necessary-for-golf, nine-hour brain surgery in 2005 to correct a tremor in his left hand that made putting nearly impossible. He also underwent spinal fusion surgery on his neck in 2001 and, at the end of the 2006 season, had triple-hernia surgery.
Two weeks ago another injury forced Simpson to regretfully withdraw from the U.S. Senior Open, a tournament he felt his game was well-suited for and was excited about after three top-15 finishes in his previous three starts.
On Friday at The Broadmoor, Simpson was warming up next to his good friend Mark O'Meara. Simpson felt unusually tight in his rib area as he was on the range but didn't think much of it. As he was beginning to conclude his pre-round practice, both he and O'Meara heard a loud crack.
"Mark spun around and he said 'You ok, Timbo?' But I couldn't hardly breathe, it felt like someone had shot me with a deer rifle," Simpson said of his pulled intercostal muscle in his rib area. "(O'Meara) called me while I was in Montana and I told him that and he said, 'Oh boy, I've pulled that before. You don't want to play until you are 100 percent.
"After 30 years of being professional athletes, we know what to do. Rest, ice and heat. I went to bed every night on the heating pad."
Over that 30-year career, he managed to win five times on the PGA TOUR and is searching for his first win on the Champions Tour this week, one in which he's trying to hold off the pain. Whether the victory comes this week -- Simpson thinks he needs to regain some confidence with his putter in order to win -- or another, Simpson says there's no player who's happier to have been given a second chance.
After all, he's survived brain surgery, overcome injuries and made nearly $5 million in his career. Though his latest sneeze and injury may not have prompted a "Bless You", Simpson knows he's been blessed in many other ways.
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JUST THE SAME OLD BRUCE
Bruce Vaughan says he's not any different now than he was before he won the Senior British Open -- a major and his first Champions Tour victory -- almost a month ago.
"I'm still the same guy, the only thing that changed was my ability to get in more tournaments. It opened up a lot of doors. People have asked me, when I got home did things change? No, I still had to go and mow the lawn," Vaughan said.
Just last season, Vaughan was a non-exempt player who had to Monday qualify in order to play tournaments on the Champions Tour. He played his way into 17 events (almost half of the tournaments in 2007), finished 44th on the Money List and earned partial exemption in 2008.
Vaughan made the most of it, winning his first major at Royal Troon to accompany seven other top-25 finishes this season.
Vaughan kept his plans for a family vacation the week of the U.S. Senior Open, so the JELD-WEN Tradition is his first tournament after that win. Through three rounds, Vaughan is tied for 44th at the Crosswater Club at Sunriver Resort.
His recent win will allow him to play for five years in the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. He's also currently 11th on the Charles Schwab Cup points list and should earn a spot in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Other than that, he says it hasn't greatly affected his life.
"I want to work hard, I still want to win. It's just opened up a few more doors. I can plan my schedule now, I'll be in that week. It makes life a little easier."
NOT EXEMPT? NOT A PROBLEM
Bruce Vaughan may not feel any different, but several other non-exempt players look at him a little differently. In fact, they see him as an inspiration.
Gene Jones and Mike Goodes are two non-exempt players in 2008, which means they must qualify each week to participate in tournaments. Goodes thinks Vaughan's story -- playing his way onto the Tour through qualifying and finally earning a major title -- proves it can be done.
"(Gene and I have) both played with Bruce, he's a really good player and has been. But, you get in these things, the only thing that matters is what you shoot. Bruce played great in Scotland and it gives you confidence it can happen," Goodes said, who's tied for fourth after three rounds of the JELD-WEN Tradition. "You never know if or when that would happen but it does give you better hope."
Though Goodes had to qualify at the start of the year, he's 42nd on the Champions Tour Money List and earned a spot in the JELD-WEN Tradition that way. Goodes qualified for 12 events this year and top-10ed in three of them.
Jones is the same way. He's currently 25th on the Money List and has six top-10 finishes in 13 events this season. Right now he's also tied for 10th in Oregon.
So what's the explanation for why Jones and Goodes are both playing so well despite not having status?
"Gene and I, it's funny we are kinda mirror images of each other, in size and hitting the ball. I didn't know him before last year -- he grew up in North Carolina but we never knew each other," Goodes said.
"Of course we want to beat each other but we play together and pull each other through. We played good in a qualifier in Minnesota where we both shot 64 in a qualifier.
"Neither likes to lose to the other, so that motivates you a little more."
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