Funk pleased by progress after knee replacement surgery

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ORLANDO -- He's not exactly the bionic man or anything like that. But Fred Funk is sporting a brand new metal-and-plastic right knee these days.

Funk, who is playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard this week, had the total replacement on Nov. 16. He returned to competition the second week of February and has played in four events so far --- three on the Champions Tour and one on the PGA TOUR.

The 53-year-old will be the first to tell you his recovery is a work in progress, though. But Funk knows he did the right thing, and he's excited by the progress he's made already.

"The good thing with what I've got going now is that it's going to get better and better as the year goes rather than deteriorating as it has the last two years,'" he said. "By the end of both years -- especially last year -- I really had a hard time playing and walking and just even wanting to play."

Funk said he was "waving" at balls a mere six weeks after the surgery. The knee is already pain-free but regaining strength in the surrounding muscles has been a more gradual proposition.

"It took a while to really start swinging full at them," Funk acknowledged. "I'm still working at that because it fatigues out on the back nine. It takes a while to get it loose and then once I get it loose, it's good for a while and then it starts fatiguing up. So it kind of goes through stages."

Funk's best finish on the Champions Tour this year has been a tie for 21st in his 2010 debut at The ACE Group Classic. He made the cut last week at the Transitions Championship in his first TOUR event and tied for 55th.

Funk is exempt on the PGA TOUR through the end of 2011 by virtue of his 2005 win at THE PLAYERS Championship and 2007 victory at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun.

Funk will be playing at Pebble Beach in June after winning last year's U.S. Senior Open by six strokes after a final-round 65. He plans tol concentrate on the Champions Tour, where he has won five times, after the U.S. Open.

"I'm trying to get rounds in," Funk said. "I'm pleased with the way I played last week as far as ball-striking is concerned. It's coming around. When I get to scoring a little better, I think I can have some fun out here.

"I still think I can be competitive. I'm having a hard time being competitive right now but that's my goal. And when I step back out on the Champions Tour I will be that much better."

Funk tied for 10th in his last appearance at Bay Hill in 2006. He welcomes the chance to get reacquainted with his friends on TOUR even though he jokes that the players "wonder why I'm here.

"It's fun to see all the guys,'" Funk said. "It's even more fun when I play good and beat them."