THE MODERATOR: Ladies and
gentlemen, Fred Funk has joined us in the Media Center. Fred is the 2009 Senior Open Champion. He's the 2008 runner‑up. Posted final round 3 under today, 8 for the
championship.
Fred, another top ten finish. What a great round today. Great charge.
FRED FUNK: It was fun to get in the mix. I didn't really expect Bernhard to come
backwards. I saw he was 2 over pretty
early, I think after his first four.
Well, now we got a game on.
So I was playing pretty solid, gave
myself some chances. I made some great
saves there in the middle of the round.
Then 8 I left one dead short from
where I needed to have it. 15 was a big
one, where I had an easy putt straight up the hill, and I pulled it.
Overall, it was great. Roger played awesome. He's a great guy, great golf swing. It was just fun to get in it.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Fred?
Q.
Fred, I believe it was the first nine, I guess it was, on the second
round. How much is that haunting youFRED FUNK: That was huge. That was my back nine, and I was 4 under for
the day through 11, which was the second hole, and then I played the next seven
5 over and just played horrendous.
It was more my driver. I just started ‑‑ I was fighting the
driver going left. That night I was
staying over at Oakhurst, and I went out that night, and I've been carrying
about four or five different shafts, and I found a shaft ‑‑ I don't even
know where it came from. I know I used
it before, but I don't know what the header was in. It was a little shorter and quite a bit
stiffer. I put it in, and it tended to
go left. I put the same head on that
shaft and just drove the ball great the last two days. Actually hit it further because it rolls a
lot longer.
I got rid of that left shot. That shot killed me. I hit it in the hay three times in a row with
that and then hit it out of bounds with a 3 iron on 9, just trying to lay up
out there.
I've hit four balls in my life on Tour
like that, and that was my fourth. I
just couldn't believe it. That was just
icing on the cake, more like shit on the cake.
It was a shit cake, and then I had shit icing. Can you print that?
Q.
Fred, you know I'm going to print that.
FRED FUNK: I know you will.
Q.
Talk about the putt at 18, what you saw, and what you hit in there too.
FRED FUNK: I hit a 7 iron in. All day the greens have been releasing a lot,
and that one had a really soft ball mark.
If it rolled just another three feet, it was going to roll down right to
the hole, but it didn't.
For some reason, that green was a
lot softer than the other ones. But I
hit a really good shot. The putt just
broke a ton. We played a big break, and
it broke even more.
It wasn't even close really. I mean, I knew it was low. Got about halfway there, and I looked
up. When I looked up, it was halfway
there. It was already even with the
hole, and I knew it was slow.
That's a diabolical green. It's more like four greens in one. It's pretty tough.
I knew I needed that putt. I didn't realize Roger ‑‑ I knew he
bogeyed 16 to go back to 9 because everybody reacted, and I looked up at the
board. He must have made a great birdie
on 17. That's a nice little cushion he
had there.
THE MODERATOR: Great charge today, Fred. Thanks very much.
FRED FUNK: Thanks, guys.
By the way, it's a great golf course.
I thought it was a great championship and a really great golf course. It was just fun to play. It was a great week. So thanks.