Fred Funk

Fred Funk
Personal information
Full name	Frederick Funk
Born	June 14, 1956 (1956-06-14) Takoma Park, Maryland
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Spouse	Sharon
Children	Eric Justin, Taylor Christian, Perri Leigh
Career
College	University of Maryland
Turned professional	1981
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour (joined 1989) Champions Tour (joined 2006)
Professional wins	20
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	8
Champions Tour	6
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	T17: 1997
U.S. Open	6th: 2004
The Open Championship	T66: 2006
PGA Championship	T4: 2002

Frederick Funk (born June 14, 1956) is an American professional golfer.

Funk was born in Takoma Park, Maryland. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1980 with a degree in law enforcement. He turned professional in 1981, but worked as a golf coach at his alma mater from 1982 to 1988; he did not become a member of the PGA Tour until 1989. He hit his first ever sub 70 round on the PGA Tour at the Kemper Open in 1998 following undergoing laser eye surgery just two days previously. Funk was a member of the United States teams at the 2003 and 2005 Presidents Cup and the 2004 Ryder Cup; he received some criticism in 2004 for opting out of The Open Championship, a major, despite having qualified. He played instead in that week's B.C. Open, a much less prestigious event, but one which also offered Ryder Cup ranking points.

Since turning 50 in June 2006, Funk has been eligible for Champions Tour events and debuted in the 2006 U.S. Senior Open. When he turned 50, he still featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He won a further PGA Tour tournament in 2007 after his senior debut, becoming only the second over-50 player to win on the PGA Tour in over thirty years, although his win came at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun, which was an alternate event to the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, so none of the world's top 64 ranked players were in the field. By winning the first Mayakoba Golf Classic, Funk became the first man to win a PGA Tour event held in Mexico.

Funk is generally regarded as one of the shortest drivers on today's PGA Tour, but is always at or near the top of the driving accuracy statistics. In fact, many of his playing competitors are now regarding him as perhaps the straightest driver to ever play golf; in the past 14 years, Funk has achieved the highest driving accuracy on the PGA Tour seven times, and has been in the top five of this statistic for every year but one in that period.

On March 28, 2005, Funk picked up the biggest win of his career, becoming the oldest player ever to win The Players Championship as well as the Skins Game, during which, to satisfy a friendly bet, he wore a pink skirt that Annika Sörenstam pulled out of her golf bag when she outdrove Funk on the par five third hole. The skirt was actually picked out by his wife, Sharon.

In August 2008, Funk won his first senior major, the JELD-WEN Tradition.

On June 8, 2009 Funk became the oldest qualifier, at age 53, for the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black by shooting 139 over 36 holes at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland, surviving a playoff.

In August 2009, Funk won his second major championship on the Champions Tour at the 2009 U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana. Funk dominated the rest of the field and cruised to a 6 shot victory over Joey Sindelar. With his third senior major victory at the 2010 Jeld-Wen Tradition, he became the first player to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event after knee-replacement surgery.

A popular player on tour, his fans are referred to as "Funk's Punks." The iconic songs -- Play That Funky Music, and Give Up the Funk -- have become theme songs for the fan favorite.

Funk has publicly endorsed a number of products including clubs, greens, and golf balls. He maintains professional relationships with Southwest Greens, TaylorMade for its clubs, Titleist golf balls, and Stryker Orthopaedics.

Funk currently resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and plays a few PGA Tour events a year while devoting most of his time to the Champions Tour.

Professional wins (20)

PGA Tour (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1	May 1, 1992	Shell Houston Open	-16 (68-72-62-70=272)	2 strokes	Kirk Triplett
2	Jul 30, 1992	Ideon Classic at Pleasant Valley	-20 (66-63-66-73=268)	1 stroke	Jim McGovern
3	Oct 6, 1995	Buick Challenge	-16 (69-67-69-67=272)	1 stroke	John Morse, Loren Roberts
4	Sep 21, 1996	B.C. Open1	-19 (68-66-63=197)	Playoff	Pete Jordan
5	Jul 19, 1998	Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic	-18 (69-64-69-68=270)	2 strokes	Paul Goydos, Franklin Langham, Tim Loustalot
6	Oct 3, 2004	Southern Farm Bureau Classic	-22 (69-67-64-66=266)	1 stroke	Ryan Palmer
7	Mar 27, 2005	The Players Championship	-9 (66-72-71-71=279)	1 stroke	Luke Donald, Tom Lehman, Scott Verplank
8	Feb 25, 2007	Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun	-14 (62-69-64-71=266)	Playoff	José Cóceres

¹ Tournament shortened to 54 holes

Fred Funk dons a skirt

Other (6)

• 1983 Maryland Open
• 1984 Foot-Joy PGA Assistant Professional Championship
• 1987 Maryland Open
• 1993 Mexican Open
• 2005 Merrill Lynch Skins Game (not an official event on the PGA Tour), CVS Charity Classic (with Chris DiMarco)

Champions Tour (6)

Legend Champions Tour major championships (3) Other Champions Tour (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Oct 22, 2006	AT&T Championship	-12 (65-67-69=201)	1 stroke	Chip Beck
2	Jan 28, 2007	Turtle Bay Championship	-23 (65-64-64=193)	11 strokes	Loren Roberts, Tom Purtzer, Denis Watson, Tom Kite, Kiyoshi Murota
3	Jan 20, 2008	MasterCard Championship at Hualalai	-21 (67-63-65=195)	2 strokes	Allen Doyle
4	Aug 17, 2008	JELD-WEN Tradition	-19 (69-66-65-69=269)	3 strokes	Mike Goodes
5	Aug 2, 2009	U.S. Senior Open	-20 (68-67-68-66=268)	6 strokes	Joey Sindelar
6	Aug 2, 2010	JELD-WEN Tradition	-12 (68-69-70-69=276)	1 stroke	Michael Allen, Chien Soon Lu

Results in major championships

Tournament	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	T23	CUT	CUT	DNP	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	T47	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	T38	DNP	T36	T17	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	CUT	T33	T7	T44	CUT	CUT	T43	DNP	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	73	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	WD
PGA Championship	DNP	T57	CUT	T44	T55	T39	T26	T61	T23	73

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
The Masters	T37	DNP	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	CUT	T44	DNP	T35	6	T23	T40	T30	DNP	60
The Open Championship	CUT	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	CUT	T66	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T9	T70	T4	T7	CUT	T47	T20	CUT	DNP	DNP

Tournament	2010	2011
The Masters	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	T70	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP

DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10

Champions Tour major championships

Wins (3)

Year	Championship	Winning Score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
2008	JELD-WEN Tradition	−19 (69−66−65−69=269)	3 stokes	Mike Goodes
2009	U.S. Senior Open	−20 (68−67−68−66=268)	6 strokes	Joey Sindelar
2010	JELD-WEN Tradition (2)	−12 (68−69−70−69=276)	1 stoke	Michael Allen, Chien Soon Lu

Results in senior majors

Results are not in chronological order before 2011.

Tournament	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
The Tradition	DNP	11	1	T5	1	T18
Senior PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T5	T23	T39
Senior British Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T2	T3	T7
U.S. Senior Open	T11	DNP	2	1	T43	T50
Senior Players Championship	T11	T3	2	T7	T16	DNP

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

U.S. national team appearances

• Ryder Cup: 2004
• Presidents Cup: 2003 (tie), 2005 (winners)

See also

• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins

External links

• Fred Funk at the PGA Tour official site
• Fred Funk at the Internet Movie Database