Fred Funk Quotations

I would agree to some extent that on the Champions Tour that there is a greater premium on putting than the regular tour because of the course setups.

My career progressed slowly. Real slow at a time. The irony of it was I had the best part of my career between when I was 45 and 49 years old. That's when most people are in their twilight, waiting to get to the Champions Tour. And that's when I made most of my hay.

I don't want to go out there and show up. I hate losing. Everybody hates losing. But I hate losing.

You worked your paper route, mowed the lawn, then played golf all day.

I don't want to rest on my laurels. I still feel like I'm learning a lot about the golf game and the swing. There are so many different little facets of golf that there is always something to learn.

I'm going to be wearing the Stryker hat because I'm a walking testimonial to the fact that you can get your knee replaced and still play at a really high level and get your life back.

I'm not here just to walk two rounds or four rounds and just show up. I want to be able to be competitive, and I truly believe I can still be competitive when I'm playing well and feeling good.

People are going to paying attention to him whether they love him or hate him. So I think Tiger is a huge focus point on a stage that is as little as golf.

Stryker was a company that allowed me, when I had my knee replaced and I got the Stryker GetAroundKnee put in, to get my career back and get my life back.

The PGA Tour has a lot of interaction with our military, and I've grown to have an incredible respect for our troops who are coming home with these horrific injuries, as well as any organization that can not only help them get healed up, but help them get integrated back into society.

We have two tractor-trailer rigs on the Tour. One is a therapy truck, and one is a workout truck. If everything is going well, you're walking in the workout truck, and when things aren't going well, you're walking in the therapy truck.

Augusta is a very unique golf course. It's a long hitters' course; main reason is because the greens are so severe, and the areas where they put the pin is such a small area. The little plateaus and undulations mean it's incredibly important to be close to that pin so you can be aggressive.

A couple of weeks before the 1992 Houston Open, I was probably as low as I could get confidence-wise. I didn't think I was going to go any further, and then, out of nowhere, I won that week. That kind of got me going.

I still pinch myself that I had the career that I had.

I would say that my downswing mirrors the path of my backswing pretty closely.

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.

Somebody is always going to play good. The guys that complain are guys like me who aren't playing well, or not scoring well. You feel like you're hitting good shots and not getting rewarded. Right now, I feel like I'm not a good player. I shouldn't feel that way.

Obviously I'm not a power hitter at all,

Obviously there must have been some beer factor in there.

I would have given 95 per cent that Tiger would have made that,

I don't know why it took so long to figure out. It looks great right now -- you hit yourself in the head and say, Why didn't we think of this before?' It really worked out well.

I had a terrible West Coast swing but I've figured some things out and I'm feeling pretty good heading into this week.

For selfish reasons, I really wish we were having a weak field, so I would have a better chance.

He was dreading every golf swing he had to take.

He really wanted to be Tiger's partner, and Tiger can't help but get motivated by that. Jim won't get caught up in the atmosphere or the pressure that goes with playing with him. You get Tiger a guy who is hitting on all cylinders mentally and won't get intimidated by that atmosphere, and that's a big plus.

I would think 99.9 per cent of the guys love this course because we don't play many like this. If you play well, you can score.

It came down to 18 and I didn't think with the wind and those conditions that I could get home, but I hit a really good drive and a really good three-wood to get it up there. I didn't think birdie would win it, but you just never know in the Skins Game.

It is so much fun being part of those teams.

It has been bothering me. If it doesn't get better, I might even have to withdraw.

Long story short, he lost his heart rate three times but he ended up surviving.

I work at it really hard, ... I try to take care of myself. I'm focused. I want to play. I think that's the biggest difference. Age doesn't really matter.

I was hoping he'd win because I would've been part of history, part of the Grand Slam, and he's a good friend,

I'm still in shock that I was invited to be in this thing,

I'm still in shock that I got asked to be in this thing, ... I've always watched it on TV and was shocked to be part of it. It's something that I didn't even dream of, actually. First of all, I didn't dream that I'd win the Players Championship.

That's the only hole that's overdone. It was difficult before. Now you walk off the green with a 3 and feel like you stole something, and it shouldn't be that way.

You just never know where life is going to take you, you never know where your talent level is going to be and timing is everything.

We play against guys we play with in the Ryder Cup week in and week out. We're all friends. Why the media want to generate any of this hatred - that's the problem. You even read stuff about Tiger and Phil disliking each other. How come they're always hanging together and playing ping-pong?

We were watching the best golf anyone is going to play -- 13 and 14 were as good as golf gets.

We just hate reading that we're not a team of togetherness, ... just because we get beat at the Ryder Cup.

We want to win for each other. I hate reading that we're not a team. Just because we got beat at Ryder Cup doesn't mean we're not a team. But people read into it.

We flew over coming in, and you could see just how sparse it looked compared to what it used to look like. But the playing part of the course still looks the same.

It was an honor that I thought was even bigger than making the team on your own, ... for him to think enough of me to be on the team. Just to come out and play for Jack again is pretty neat.

Sometimes I think I'm better remembered for the Skins skirt than for winning the Players.

After the experience of playing on the Presidents Cup team last year, my only goal this year was to make the Ryder Cup team. For me, it was more important to play in the Ryder Cup than the British Open.

Again, timing's everything, ... It was very difficult to make putts. You saw a lot of putts go right up to the hole and break off. Freddie and Tiger hit a bunch like that. It's just difficult trying to read these things and you don't know where they go.

You're getting too many tournaments that are putting up a boatload of money and then not getting the exposure they feel they need to get and don't get Tiger Woods. That's the only one they really care about. Tiger just sells the tournament by himself if he's there.

There's a lot of pride out here. You don't expect this golf course to play that hard. It used to be that if you weren't playing well, you could always make some birdies. I've made two birdies all week.

It was one of those things where you're thinking you've got to do more than you had to do. I tried some shots a little too aggressively and paid the price.

It was one of those things where you are thinking you have to do more than you have to coming down the back nine. I tried some shots a little too aggressively and paid the price, made some bogeys. All of a sudden I lost the lead. I did birdie the last two holes, but it was too late at that point.

It was a smoking-hot day, and they had one window air conditioner that couldn't keep up, ... At the time, he was still on his ventilator in his wheelchair. I remember introducing myself, and he had an infectious smile. He's such a good-looking kid. You go in there with the attitude that you're going to be the highlight of his day, and he was the highlight of my day. I walked out of there and said, 'I've got to do something for him.'

It's more important to be in the right place than to be way, way down there (off the tee).

That's the best golfer in the world playing at his best.

That made it pretty neat, but it gave a lot of blind holes and shots that you didn't really have much control over, ... And with the firmness of the course, it made it that much more difficult.

I've got a pretty pink skirt for you,

This is cool. I really do pinch myself to realize where I've come from. To obtain some of the things I have obtained out here is pretty cool.

I'm from the (Washington, D.C.) area, so I'll be the homeboy for the week, Got Rings?

I had some opportunities that I took advantage of, but missed a couple and made a couple of really good saves.

I'll be the homeboy for the week, ... That will be exciting.

I really feel like I can help the Champions Tour. But at the same time, I'm competitive out here. It's kind of hard to say, okay, that's over and let's go to a new chapter. But I'm not sure. I'm going to have to re-evaluate.

I played the Buick at Flint with Tiger and he was air mailing me 50 to 60 yards every shot.

Being a local guy and this big a tournament, I think it's pretty neat. The only tournaments that would be bigger than this one is the majors, and usually they're not home events for anybody. Unless you're winning Augusta, I guess. Larry Mize winning there (in 1987) had to be pretty special.

My son's 18, 142 pounds and hits it 40 (yards) by me. Instead of to the pin, he's lasering the distance between me and him.

That's my No. 1 goal. I want to be part of (captain) Tom Lehman 's team.

If I ever reach a par-5 in two, they change it to a par-4.

I'd say normally any TOUR event is close. It's very rare that any of them are runaways. The guys are pretty evenly locked. It's very seldom a guy gets on a roll with his putter to the point where he can really separate himself from the field like Tiger (Woods) has done a few times and Ernie did here, and Duval.

The guy comes up and he apologized to us. We all looked at each other and said, 'Who is that?' We still don't know who it was. ... This rookie class, with Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes and others, hits it a mile.