Fred Funk in Transitions

Fred Funk is a man entered in this week’s PGA TOUR’s Transitions Championship on the Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. The 52-year old golfer is in transition in other ways too transitioning from the PGA Tour to the Champions Tour and from being injured to being healthy, ready and fit for competition.

But don’t tell him because he is just Fred the leader of Funk’s Punks and life is always a transition anyways.

It’s the same picture of the 2005 PLAYERS champion whether you look in the PGA TOUR media guide or the one for the Champions Tour. The spread in the PGA TOUR book is a little longer since he’s been doing that since turning pro in 1981 and he has been in the 50-plus category only since June 14, 2006 almost three years ago.

That PLAYERS victory in 2005 at TPC Sawgrass earned him a five year exemption on the PGA TOUR which will run out at the end of the 2010 season. Hence he is really a PGA TOUR player. The PGATOUR.com website only lists him as a player on the PGA TOUR and not on the Champions Tour.

The 2005 PLAYERS wasn’t Funk’s last victory on the regular tour. He won the inaugural Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya- Cancun in 2007 beating Argentinean Jose Coceres in a playoff.

Funk’s 2007 PGA TOUR victory wasn’t his last victory in professional golf either. He won his first major championship on the Champions Tour last year winning the JELD-WEN Tradition. It was his fourth victory on that tour dating back to the 2006 AT&T Championship which he won in his rookie year in only his third Champions start.

The local golfing hero may always be in transition when it comes to which tour to play on. In 2006 his playing mix was 29 regular tour events including all four majors and three Champions events. In 2007 the mix was 22 PGA and 11 Champions.

Last year it was 11 PGA and 18 Champions. So far this year he has played in only three Champions events and the Transitions start will be his first on the PGA TOUR.      

Funk with 609 career starts on the PGA TOUR and another 34 so far on the Champions Tour underwent arthroscopic surgery right after last year’s PLAYERS Championship on May 14^th on his right knee. He was back playing in the Stanford St. Jude Championship in early June less than a month later.

Even though he played a combined 29 events last year the knee surgery had complications namely fluid on his knee which had to drained a total of 16 times through the Merrill Lynch Shark Shootout in mid December. Then the complication got real complicated fast.

“I was playing Russian roulette with those needles and finally one of them got me. I got the (staph) infection there, and then that set me way back. I was on the IV pick line for six weeks and pretty sick and a couple surgeries.

"(The) initial surgery was 12 days apart from the second one where the infection got worse and they had to go in the second time and they knocked me out a third time to break up a scar tissue which was no fun, and (when) I woke up from that, it really hurt.”

A staph infection is bad news and at one time there was a rumor that Fred had to have his leg amputated to keep it from threatening his life.

“But yeah, the worst-case, it can kill you if they let it go. It's bad stuff. I had no idea how bad it was until I got it. I had never heard of staph until I got it. Didn't really know what was. Still don't really know what it is, but I know you just don't want to have it.”

One fellow golfer actually sent him flowers assuming he had already had his leg amputated.

But Fred beat the odds and is transitioning through this health crisis like the champion he is.

“Once the infection got out and I got the IVs out of me, I seemed to start getting the strength back into my knee a lot quicker. Right now it's probably about 70 percent in strength. And I have tested—I'm probably—doc says I'm a good two months ahead of where he thought I would be.”

Fred started back targeting the Champions events since he had an option to use a cart. However that did not work out the way he planned.

“The irony of that is that I got paired with Gary Player the first round my first week back, and here is a 72-year-old guy sprinting down the fairway, so I said, damned if I'm getting in a cart. So I walked, at least nine holes and then I hopped in a cart.”

There is a risk to walking and competing.

“The key to it is getting the strength back, but not getting the swelling is the biggest thing. If it swells back up again, if I get fluid back on it, then I'm done. I've got to go back home and just shut it down completely and more than likely that's where I'll have to wait a few months to be clear of the infection for at least six months and then go get a knee replacement.”

So the head punk is trying to play his way back into shape right now. Why did he choose the Transitions to come back out on the PGA TOUR?

“The main reason I came back is because of the love for the (Copperhead) golf course. I just think it's one of the best golf courses that we have on TOUR. I'm just looking forward to playing with the young guys and playing on a really good golf course.”

What are Fred chances of winning the Transitions this week? While he is not on the top of his game he can’t be counted out. The Copperhead course is a ball-striker’s golf course.

“Now there are weeks I play really well, say, THE PLAYERS Championship, I was controlling my golf ball that week. But at the same time, 68, 69 is a real good number no matter where you go, no matter where you play.

"And if I'm playing well, I can do that, and do that on the hardest golf courses. I've done that in the past. My game is not where I want it to be for that kind of scoring, but it could happen.”

Is Funk a PGA TOUR or Champions Tour player?

“I'd define more of a Champions Tour playing on the regular tour. Initially I was going to do more half and half. That was my attempt last year. When I had the knee surgery that changed things a little bit and I was going to do almost a split schedule again this year and when I got the staph infection that changed everything.

"Now I'm going to play about 18, 19 on the Champions Tour and I'll play seven or eight on the regular TOUR. So I'll play 25 or 26 events if all goes well.”

We wish Fred well and look forward to him competing in the 2009 PLAYERS Championship starting on Monday, May 4 on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Maybe he can repeat the 2005 magic!