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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 25, 2002

Fred Funk

SILVIS, ILLINOIS

TODD BUDNICK: Fred Funk, sole possession of second place after the first round. Fred, you are having a great year -12 Top-25s, 3 Top-10s including a second last week at the B.C. Open. Looks like -- I was talking to you earlier, everybody is kind of carrying that momentum over from last week to this week.

FRED FUNK: Yeah, it is good. I started off the year really solid and just couldn't get that one really good round going, it put me over the top, but played real solid which is unusual for me on the West Coast of the -- then I kind fell into a little lull there, starting Bay Hill and THE PLAYERS Championship and then I actually went to Europe the last three weeks, or three weeks prior to the British, and with the goal to try to get into the British, so I played the Irish and the European Open and the Scottish. And the Scottish I was trying to use it as my qualifier for the British, and I had a lot of fun over there. I was playing really good. Really the only thing holding me back over there was my putter. I just was hitting the ball really solid most of the rounds and couldn't reward myself with couple of good rounds, but couldn't keep the momentum going with my putter. I made all three cuts and finished like 20th and 23rd and 41st, but I didn't make the British. And then I came back and I promised Mike Norman that I had come back to the B.C. Open, came running back for that, and finished second last week. I lost the tournament basically on the first round. The first 16 holes I was 1-over par and then I birdied 17, 18, shot 71, then I played really good from that point on. But it's starting to come around because last week I made 27 birdies, and then I made 7 today and I got this little thing with my caddie where we get this recommended daily allowance of birdies we're trying to average six a day. I got to that. I done it all five rounds now that we have had that. Even the 17 I had 6 birdies last week on the first round and I let it go with some bogeys. But I used the belly putter that first round which is the first time I have done this year. I missed a couple of short ones so didn't like it, went back to the conventional and kept rolling them in.

Q. What was clicking for you today?

FRED FUNK: I did everything good today technically today, hit every fairway and every green, and I had a shot at birdie on every hole except for really the first hole, the 10th hole, my first hole I played a 60-degree wedge from the first cut of rough to about 50 feet passed the hole just barely on the green and I made it, and that kind of got me started. But from that point on, I really had a shot at birdie on almost every hole from that point in, so I played exceptionally well today tee-to-green and drove the ball real good, didn't come close missing the fairway, and from these conditions of these fairways you can get it in pretty good shape going into the green and get it close. And the greens are in great shape too. So the golf course is in fabulous shape, so if you can hit it good it's going to reward you. It's matured really good.

Q. It is difficult when you have been overseas for a few weeks you are playing Links-style golf to come back and play this style the old classic between the trees type?

FRED FUNK: Actually that's the fallacy over there is that they play Links-style because Muirfield was Links-style. But the three I played were park land, they call them, which is just like this. In fact, the K. Club was an Arnold Palmer designed course and Loch Lomond was a Weiskopf/Morris designed course, so they're Americanized as you can get. So they were exactly the same as what we have over here. I don't think they play that many links styles even on their Tour other than the British and maybe a handful of other ones when they get out there and they play the British Open rotation courses that they have. I wish they did. That's been kind of neat. In fact, the Irish Open they're talking next year it's on a two-year rotation. They rotate every two. They are talking about going to Bally Bunion next year which is supposedly a Links-style. It's supposed to be great. I have never played it. So, no, I didn't -- the difference is just playing in the heat. Over there it's harder to play -- I don't like cold weather and rain and they do. That's all they get. I really don't think they like playing in it, but that's what they get at least in Scotland and Ireland.

Q. Were you tempted not play this week after you played, what, the last four last month or whatever?

FRED FUNK: Not really, no. Well, I was not getting -- I was going to pull out of here if I didn't play well last week, was going to go home for two weeks and rest. I also told my wife and my caddie, I said, you know, I am going to keep going if I play well. I felt really close to playing good when I was over in Europe because honestly, the only thing that was really holding me back was I couldn't get it in the hole. My swing and my body was coming around a little bit each week. I was feeling a little bit better and it carried through the last week and then obviously this week I hope three more good rounds and get in position to win this thing. That would achieve a lot of my goals that I have. Obviously you'd like to win at least one a year, that would be one great goal. Top-30 is my more realistic goal on the money list. That's what I want to do.

Q. Has not winning yet this year been frustrating for you or --

FRED FUNK: Well, yeah, it has. There was a couple of tournaments early in the year where I was hitting the ball good enough where I thought if I had the putter a little hotter that I could have won. I could have definitely won Tucson. And I played exceptionally well in a couple of other. Hawaii I played pretty solid. Yeah, I think -- but I really hadn't been in that much of a hunt to win 'til last week. And even last week it was up to what Shaun was going to do and Paul. I was a group ahead of them, and obviously as the day unfolded it was apparent that a lot of guys could have won that tournament. But going into Sunday's round they kind of controlled the destiny of the tournament. Shaun goes out there and shoots 33 on the front nine and it's all over. But he let everybody back in, and then Spike posted a 19 when I was standing on 16th tee we had a long wait, and I thought he finished at 18; all of a sudden 19 went up on the board; I know I had to birdie the last three holes. I kind of stumbled in the second -- I birdied the last two, Shaun went backwards and handed second to me. That was fine, but where I lost last week's tournament not only first round, but when it came to crunch time I bogeyed 11, didn't birdie 12 so went 5, 5 on holes that probably average was 4, 4. And that was the difference from winning and losing last week, if you take it all and put it all in the last round. But it wasn't all just the last round.

Q. Does that make today's start more encouraging considering what you did last week getting off to the slow start?

FRED FUNK: Well, feels good to know that I am still making a lot of birdies, and today was actually a little frustrating because I really could have made a lot of birdies today. I made 7, but I played exceptionally well where I set up the holes pretty well. Other than the bomb on my first hole 10 and then I hit unusual drive on 15 where I was playing into the wind and I probably only hit it about 220. Just kind of upshot. I hit it solid but it just went straight up in the hill left myself with a 4-wood into that hole. That's not a good hole to be hitting 4-wood into. But other than that, I played exceptionally well today.

I made at least a 50-footer on 10.

13 had about 8-footer. About a 2-footer on 14.