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BUICK CHAMPIONSHIP

August 25, 2004

Fred Funk

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

TODD BUDNICK: We thank Fred Funk for dropping by the Buick Championship media center today.

Fred, big things happening for you. You've made your first Ryder Cup Team. Congratulations. You have to be really excited about that.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, it was obviously a huge goal, and to actually achieve it is still kind of unbelievable. I haven't had it sink in yet, after experiencing the Presidents Cup team last year, it was something. It far exceeded my expectations of what it was going to be like, representing your country, being part of a really great group of golfers, obviously the best in the world, and playing in that kind of format was something I had just never expected to experience that kind of feeling that I had there, the intensity, the camaraderie, everything that went with it. And then I wanted that goal to happen again with the Ryder Cup, and it's happened.

So, from what I've heard, you can multiply or intensify the experience by about 100 times by playing the Ryder Cup on American soil from what Hal Sutton and numerous other guys have told me. It will far exceed anything I've ever experienced as far as pressure and the atmosphere that it's going to be there; so, charged up.

So really looking forward to that. Although I know the pressure is going to be pretty intense, I'm looking forward to that, actually. But overall just the whole experience, I'm really looking forward to representing the country and playing for Sutton.

TODD BUDNICK: They didn't make it easy for you, if the playoff had gone a different way. Were you following that closely?

FRED FUNK: They had that wrong. If Justin won, he was going to be four points behind me. Riley would have been bumped. I knew when the guys were on about 11 that I was in for sure because Verplank and Jay Haas were not going to pass me. I knew that Justin, even if he won, was not going to pass me. They did say on the air that Riley and Verplank and DiMarco bumped me and I went into a little panic and then redid the numbers and I was right and then they came back and said that they were wrong.

You know, it was tough because for one, I played really good at Milwaukee, and I got the points that I needed there with the second place. And then I hurt my ribs that next day in the Pro-Am and I couldn't play the Buick, that is really probably my best tournament other than the old Buick Southern.

I had best success at Buick Flint; I couldn't play that week. Went home and really didn't touch a club, because I couldn't with my rib injury going into the PGA. I was really rusty and I was afraid to swing at it. I was afraid I was going to hurt it again. I had a hard time. Although I shot 2-over and thought I was a lock, that was one of the strangest cuts I had ever seen in my life where we actually went down and the course played harder the second day.

I thought I still made the cut, but regardless I didn't play well to get any points there. Buick, I couldn't. So I wasn't in control of my own destiny, and that was tough.

And then last week, I played horrible at a course that played extremely long. It was premium on driving accuracy and I just didn't have it last week. I missed 21 fairways and I hit it in the high stuff 19 times. I was hitting hard hay last week; get that one out of the way.

I think found something playing a casual round of golf at another club, and hopefully what I found yesterday will show up today and will reinforce what I've got. I was really struggling with a swing thought and I came up with something yesterday. So I'm really looking forward to this week, as of right now.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's talk about this week. Did you get a chance to play the course Monday?

FRED FUNK: I played Monday in the Pro-Am. They were short guys from Reno and they had some emergency calls, I had to try to get guys. I decided to play on Monday.

TODD BUDNICK: Talk about how the course conditions are right now.

FRED FUNK: The course Monday was really soft. The ball wasn't rolling at all. I had a mud snowball on No. 10; it was so muddy on that hole, and that tends to be one of the wettest fairways anyway.

But the course is in great shape. Fabulous shape. So there's high rough, you have to drive it, a lot more room in the fairways than there was last week, but if you do miss the fairways, you're in trouble and you're going to be hacking out. But the golf course overall is in really good shape.

Q. Inaudible?

FRED FUNK: No, I was still there. I was actually -- I flew in the middle of the round to Akron, and we watched the very end. We did. We left Sunday morning and then went to Akron so we watched the end of it at Akron. My caddie, my wife, everybody already had that all figured out and we were just going down and checking off guys. When they made the turn, there was only two guys that really could have passed me, and that was okay, I could afford two guys.

I'm really trying to focus on getting my game back to where I know I can play and my capability. I just haven't played very consistent this year at all. It's been a real struggle. I've just come off two to three years of playing really good, consistent golf, and this year has been the most inconsistent year in the last three. It's due to quite a few things but I'm trying to remedy that with a little crash course now. I've been trying to fix it all year, but I really think I found something yesterday.

Q. Inaudible?

FRED FUNK: Just a swing key. I was lost on how to -- you need something to focus in on your golf swing, whether it's take away thought, a transition thought for a follow-through thought, and I've been working on a lot of take-away thoughts and transition thoughts and those weren't working. Now I have a really good initiation from the top, but more of a follow-through thought that allowed me to be more aggressive. The bottom line is that I was trying to create the golf swing instead of just letting it happen, and it became pure timing. There's not much confidence in that. I've just been hitting a lot of shots both directions and I haven't eliminated one side of the golf course. It's not easy knowing where to aim out there. Usually my pulls and pushers are pretty minuscule but recently they have been a lot, I have been pulling them 30 yards and hitting weak rights.

And yesterday after nine holes, I was actually giving my caddie, who was playing with me a tip on the ninth hole and that tip went right into my mind. I said, "Well, why don't I do that." And all of a sudden our whole group is doing this, and all three of us, including my son, four of us, my son is 8, we were all playing it and we got him doing it.

He said "That's the first tip I've understood that you've made, Dad," after I explained it to him. He said, "Yeah, that makes sense, dad." He's eight years old.

Q. And it's a swing thought?

FRED FUNK: Yeah, it's a simple thought, and that's what I've been looking for is something really simple. When I go to the range today hopefully it will be there.

I've been working hard on setup and on width and the downswing move and it's too conscious a thought. I've got to let that happen and just really have a thought that's reactionary. It's more of a rotation move.

Q. What's the tip?

FRED FUNK: Trying to steal a lesson here? If you picture the shoulder, you have left and right shoulder. You turn, I'm trying to replace that left shoulder as fast as on my right shoulder in the follow-through instead of sliding. What I've been trying to is trying to get the right shoulder, right hand, right harm down as fast as I can and I got one over the top, and I've been getting real steep right at impact. So I've been hitting every either on the toe or toe-deep or pulling them. Or if my hands don't catch up, I hit that shot.

So now if I get this shoulder going around as far as I can, I follow through a little flatter. I picked up like 15 yards just like that on the first swing when I did it. I went, "That's it."

My caddie hit it about 30 yards further on the first shot that he did it. I went, "that's it." So it's a simple little thought. It's more like what, if you picture Justin Leonard kind of swings like a little bit that, kind of thought where he's posting up on that left leg. Jay Haas does it real well where he posts up and Tiger, all the real long hitters do, instead of a slide move. More of a rotational move.

Q. What is it that keeps you going at this point in your career?

FRED FUNK: I think it's a motivational thing. I don't think golf, as long as you're healthy really knows an age. Jay Haas has been super-motivated last two years to make the Presidents Cup team, and then make the Ryder Cup Team and play well while his son was coming out. He's had a lot of things that have motivated Jay to play extremely well. He's gotten more healthy. I'm using him as an example because I think he's just playing fantastic golf, too.

I've done the same thing. I've tried to stay as healthy as I can, other than my rib thing was a fluke. I think as long as you're healthy -- Fred Couples is as excited about his game as he's ever been. I just read it morning, whatever tournament it was, he hurt his back again. He had two really good tournaments prior to that where he was feeling free and easy where his back went out. I think Freddie, at this age and his laid back demeanor, if his back was healthy, he would be as excited as anyone to play right now. A lot of things have to do with aches and pains that you get at this stage, and the overuse, what I call them as overuse injuries we suffer out there from all of the hitting balls and rotating, torquing and everything we do every day. No matter what you do, if you do it too much, it hurts. It makes you imbalance, so you've always got to work on that.

Back to the short-word answers or one-word answer, is motivation. I want to play well. I wanted to be one of the best, if not the best 48-year-old this year. I want to be the best 49-year-old next year. I want to go out, I wanted to go out with a bang.

I didn't realistically think that I was in position to make the Ryder Cup Team. To actually make it on points, I'm really proud of that. I was super-proud of Nicklaus thinking of enough of me to be a captain's pick.

I've been told and I haven't had it backed up yet, that I'm the oldest guy to ever make it on points in a Ryder Cup, and I'm not sure whether that's true or not. I think Ray Floyd was a pick years ago and Jay is a pick. I don't know if anyone else has ever been there. But to actually make the team on points at my age is pretty cool. So I'm really proud of that.

Q. What is it that makes this format more pressured?

FRED FUNK: Somebody asked me that yesterday. I remember playing college golf and even coaching when I was coaching college golf, especially coaching. Well, I take it back. When I was playing golf, for the Maryland team, we had five guys that could really play golf. As a team we played awful. In the summer we all went out individual play and played great. It was the added pressure of playing for your team and playing for your coach and playing for your school and representing a bigger picture and you don't want to let them down. Sometimes you don't handle that as well as you should or wish you could.

I think when you're playing on a -- representing your country, playing for a team, playing for a captain, it's a big deal. You just don't want to let it -- it's just that extra burden on you to play. It's hard enough to play when you're out here by yourself and you're just letting yourself down or your caddie down or your family do you know a little bit, but mainly yourself.

And also, there's a big difference because if you don't play this week, there's next week. There's not another next week at the Ryder Cup. That's probably the biggest thing. You've got to play well that week, and it doesn't always guarantee you a win. You could play well and get your butt kicked anyway, and you could play awful and still win a point.

But the points are all, you know, you look at some of the records of the guys, and you just wonder how could they not have a good record in the Ryder Cup. Some people have miserable records, and maybe they didn't play bad; they just got beat. Maybe it looks like they didn't play well, but just the timing wasn't right. Same as The Match Play event we have in the off-season.

The other thing with the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup, I think the format alone, with the alternate-shot and the best ball, narrows the gap between the two teams if there is a gap at all anyway. It just makes it for close competition. It's hard to get that alternate-shot, it's really awkward. The best ball, if you're not really clicking or one guy is not clicking on the team than the other, you don't stay up. A lot of things can happen in those find of format.

I think if it was strictly three days of singles, the best team would rise to the top almost every time. But with the different formats, it's just not going to happen that way.

Q. Have you spoken to Hal at all?

FRED FUNK: I talked to Hal Saturday when I was cleaning my locker out at the PGA and I haven't had a phone call or anything. Obviously he's here and I'm the only one here, I just read that this morning, so I'm sure I'll be hearing some things and looking forward to that. I think we are just expected -- we are expected to be there Monday at Oakland Hills. I'm going to be there Sunday night after Canada. I'm going to play Canada and come on in.

I added Canada to my schedule, because for one, I didn't want to have a week off prior to that big of a deal. And second, it doesn't do me any good to go down to Florida and practice on bermuda when we don't have bermudagrass up at Oakland Hills. I wanted to get up and play a golf course, at least the same kind of grass and that's Glen Abbey.

Q. What are some keys to playing well at Oakland Hills?

FRED FUNK: Driving it well and driving the way I'm known to drive the golf ball at least keeping the golf ball in play, that's a big advantage on a U.S. Open type golf course. I think in an alternate-shot, I remember last year playing, well Phil and I -- actually Phil Mickelson and I actually played best-ball, but I would get off the tee first. Not that it was that hard to fit the fairways at Fancourt, but I would get it in play and he was just bomb's away. He would be just 70 yards past me, but he would be down the middle on a lot of the holes. They let him free-wheel it.

The alternate-shot is so awkward, it's every other hole I get the driver on. And sometimes, you don't hit a driver for four holes. I remember a stretch where it was, I didn't have a full shot for three or four holes in the alternate-shot last year at Fancourt, and it's hard to keep any momentum going just because of the way, you had a par 3, so you're not hitting a driver and you're hitting second shot on the next hole; you're not hitting the second shot. It was just weird how the way the course unfolded and how big of a span it was from the last time I hit a driver and the next time I hit a driver. It was hard to get any rhythm.

Q. What are you doing for fitness, do you work out with the fitness trainers?

FRED FUNK: Well, recently I've been in there a lot for rehab but I've been working out a lot. I pretty much live in there.

Well, you've seen the big change just in the last few years with how many personal trainers are out here. The Australians seem to have their main guy, their little guru trainer and they go around and he works all the guys out.

Our guys are really good that are in the trucks. I pretty much have stayed with them. I tried a trainer one time and I just didn't have the time to work with the trainer and then do what I normally do. I just didn't have enough hours in the day. So I decided to do my own little thing and that changes all the time.

For me, if it wasn't for the trucks, I wouldn't be out here. I've had a lot of numerous overuse-type injuries. I've had chronic injuries, chronic aches and pains, and they have been able to work it out for me. I see a big difference in me, when I go home for a week and I come back, I'm so much tighter than I was when I left. If I go in there and I'm working with these guys, I get stretched at least once a day.

Q. You go every day?

FRED FUNK: Well, yeah, I do try to get stretched every day, and I've been in stretches where I do a lot of -- I'm doing 30 minutes of cardio every other day or five days a week, whatever I can do and a little bit of strength training. A lot of things have just been recently trying to get back to being able to swing again with my ribs and now just lose time in the day, I don't have time for negative else.

Q. How big are the trucks?

FRED FUNK: It's big. It used to be no trucks and then one truck and now we have a workout truck and a therapy truck, so it's a pretty big deal.

Q. Were you ever close to getting in a Ryder Cup before, were you were either going to make it or not make it, and has it hit you yet?

FRED FUNK: There was one year where I was 14th, 15th, 18th on points going in and you obviously need Top-10s and I just didn't get them. By the time it got close, like this time of year to the Ryder Cup, I wasn't even sniffing at the time.

Well, this year I kind of started in the same position, and I haven't played that well, but I had a couple really good tournaments at the right time. And the second at Milwaukee, I knew I -- I went to a course that I liked. I had not played in a few years but it was set up perfect for me. I got the second there which was 90 points. That was the difference in making the team and not making the team.

As far as thinking of making it and not making it, like I said, I still don't really -- it has not hit me that I made this team yet. I think it will when I get there Sunday, Sunday of the tournament, Monday, whatever day that is I get there.

I think the Ryder Cup far exceeds anything you can do individually, or the U.S. Open. I didn't even feel the pressure of the U.S. Open because the USGA totally lost the golf course. I had the lead on Saturday going down 14, I looked at the board and I had the lead by myself. I was as relaxed as I've probably ever been, because at that point on Saturday, the golf course was already becoming goofy golf. And even though I didn't finish well Saturday, I think I bogeyed three holes coming in on Saturday, I didn't feel good about that, but I didn't feel -- it wasn't because of the pressure of being in that position of the U.S. Open.

And then Sunday, obviously you wanted to play well. But I'm looking at the computer before I go out and Billy Mayfair is 17-over after 15 holes and other guys are 10-over after nine and 11-over after nine. I'm going, "What the heck is going on out there? This is ridiculous."

I found out, actually walking on the range, that the range was already dead. I mean, it was completely dead on Sunday, so I knew the golf course was not going to be very good. And they had that high wind on Saturday night. It just turned out to be a joke. It wasn't any fun at all on Sunday for anybody because it wasn't golf.

It was really sad, I thought. The USGA just did a horrible job of ruining a great golf course. Well, actually it did a great job of ruining it. (Laughter.)

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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