Final round: Fabulous Funk finally wins a major

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Fred Funk kisses the trophy from his first major championship victory.

SUNRIVER,Ore. (AP) -- Even with a widening lead in the final found of the JELD-WEN Tradition, Fred Funk pretended he was trailing.

RELATED LINKS

Leaderboard: Sunday
Final results and money
Funk's scorecard
Photos: Final round

VIDEO

Haas' approach at the 12th
Funk birdies the 14th
Hoch birdies the 16th
Goodes birdies the last
Funk wins JELD-WEN Tradition

"We were going down the second fairway and my caddie, Mark (Long), said 'Let's say you are four behind,'" Funk said. "We were trying to make it as if we were behind all day. Don't protect anything and fire at all the flags."

The aggressive Funk won his first Champions Tour major title, closing with a 3-under 69 on Sunday for three-stroke victory over Mike Goodes at the Crosswater Club.

The 52-year-old Funk, also the winner of the season-opening MasterCard Championship in Hawaii, had a 19-under 269 total. He shot a bogey-free 65 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Senior PGA Championship winner Jay Haas into the final round.

"He wasn't going to be denied today," said Haas, who shot a 72 to tie for third, with Tom Watson (70). "He got to 6 up after 15 and I just took my foot off the gas."

Funk, an eight-time champion on the PGA TOUR and four-time winner on the Champions Tour, had birdies at Nos. 11, 14 and 15 to get to 22 under.

"In my mind I just wanted to get up as far as I could and basically bury the field," Funk said. "When I got to 6 under for the day I as doing exactly what I wanted to do."

He made a double bogey on 16 before waiting out a 63-minute delay because of thunder and lightning, then returned to bogey the 17th.

Scott Hoch (71) was 13 under, followed by Scott Simpson (70) at 12 under.

After splitting his time between the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour the past three years, Funk plans to play the PGA TOUR full-time next year. He won Sunday despite neck, back and knee problems that led him to visit a chiropractor.

Goodes is a non-exempt player who joined the Tour out of q-school in 2007. His best previous finish was fourth at the Regions Charity Classic in May.

Divots: The tournament record is 23 under, set by Doug Tewell in 2001 at Desert Mountain in Arizona. ... The last time weather forced a suspension of play in the tournament was in 2000.

TRIVIA QUESTION

Can you answer this? Despite decades of success on the PGA TOUR and the Champions Tour, Fred Funk was chasing the first major of his career -- which he caught -- at the 20th JELD-WEN Tradition today. What was Funk's best finish in a senior major coming into this week at Crosswater Club in Sunriver, Ore.? See the answer at the bottom of the page

Sunday's Best

EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE The par-5, 687-yard 12th was the easiest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.701. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 25 PARS: 37 BOGEYS: 5 OTHERS: 0 The par-3, 244-yard 17th was toughest with a Sunday scoring average of 3.254. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 5 PARS: 41 BOGEYS: 20 OTHERS: 1

ROUND OF THE DAY

D.A. Weibring and David Eger share the honors for round of the day with their matching, bogey-free 5-under 67s. Weibring started out right with a birdie on No. 1, while Eger picked up his first on the second hole. Weibring went out in 32 and home in 35, while Eger went out in 33 and came home in 34. John Harris also shot 67, but he had two bogeys.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"If you're in a fight and you're winning the fight, I want to kick them again. That's what I wanted to do. I learned that when I used to be a boxer. You don't want this guy coming back. So when he's down, kick him again." -- JELD-WEN Tradition champion Fred Funk, laughingly, on what was going on in his mind as he tried to maintain the lead for his first win at a major championship

What the leaders said...

Player Finish Score Comment Fred Funk 1st 19 under "I wanted to just get as far ahead as I can and just basically bury the field, is what I wanted to do. When I got to 6 under for the day, I was doing exactly what I wanted to do. And that was a great feeling." Mike Goodes 2nd 16 under "It gives me a great opportunity to achieve a major goal, which is to get in the top 30 (Charles Schwab Cup standings). I need some more finishes like this, or close. But it does put me in position to where if I play good the rest of the year, I should have some status for next year."

WITH THIS WIN...
• Fred Funk, a winner at the season-opening MasterCard Championship at Hualalai, becomes the seventh player with a pair of victories this year, giving the Champions Tour the most multiple winners in a season since 2005 (seven). The last time Funk won twice in a calendar year was 1995 when he claimed both the Ideon Classic and the Buick Challenge.

• Funk becomes the first player since Jim Thorpe (2007 Charles Schwab Cup Championship) to win a Champions Tour event with four consecutive rounds in the 60s.

• Funk becomes just the second player, and first since Gil Morgan in 1997, to win the JELD-WEN Tradition with four straight rounds in the 60s.

• Funk earns 794 Charles Schwab Cup points for winning this year's JELD-WEN Tradition and vaults from seventh place into the third position with 1,779 points on the season.

• In his 10th appearance on the Champions Tour this year, Funk collects a check for $392,000, his largest amount ever on the circuit, and increases his 2008 official earnings to $1,240,683 (fifth), the first time he's eclipsed seven figures in a single season on the circuit.

• Funk has now entered the final round with a lead three times on the Champions Tour and won each time (2007 Turtle Bay Championship, 2006 AT&T Championship).

HOW ABOUT THOSE CHASERS?
Jay Haas picked up 174 Schwab Cup points and jumped over Bernhard Langer back into the top spot. Through 21 of 29 events this year, Haas now has 2,145 points, and Langer is second with 2,046 points. At the end of the official season, the player who earns the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout and the Charles Schwab Cup.

Watson

Tom Watson's tie for third this week now gives him six top-10 performances in the JELD-WEN Tradition in eight appearances. Watson won the 2003 event at The Reserve Golf & Country Club near Portland and tied for second in this championship in 2000.

Mike Goodes, who started the year as a non-exempt player, became the first player since Mike McCullough (2001), and fourth player overall in Tradition history, to post four straight rounds in the 60s and not win. His runner-up effort in Oregon this week was his highest finish ever in a Champions Tour event, and his check for $231,000 was more than double his previous-best check in a Champions Tour event ($102,000/4th -- 2008 Regions Charity Classic). Goodes vaulted from 42nd into 25th position in 2008 earnings with $547,179.

Bernhard Langer's tie for seventh at this week's JELD-WEN Tradition makes him the only player on the Champions Tour to record a top 10 in the four major championships that have been played on the Champions Tour thus far. Langer was second at the Senior PGA Championship, tied for fourth at the Senior British Open at Royal Troon and tied for sixth at the U.S. Senior Open two weeks ago. The last major of the season on the Champions Tour is the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship in Baltimore, October 6-12.

TRIVIA ANSWER

Fred Funk's previous best finish in a major came just a couple of weeks ago at the U.S. Senior Open, where he tied for second. His finishes before that were 11th at the '07 JELD-WEN Tradition, a tie for third at the '07 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, a tie for 11th at the '06 U.S. Senior Open and a tie for 11th at the '06 Ford Senior Players Championship.