PGA Tour vet survives playoff with bum knee
As a car pulled into the parking lot at Woodmont Country Club, tires squealing, PGA Tour veteran Fred Funk stepped away from his ball, his concentration broken. Funk muttered an amusing expletive, then stepped back up and ripped a short iron to within 10 feet at the 12th hole on Woodmont’s North Course.
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Wearing a bulky brace on his right knee, Funk hobbled around Woodmont for 40 holes Monday, the last of seven men from a field of 72, to qualify for the U.S. Open.
“My leg is whipped,” said Funk, who emerged last from a six-man playoff for four slots, outlasting another former PGA Tour pro, Michael Muehr, making a par on the fourth extra hole.
Players who automatically qualified Monday at Woodmont were medalist Ben Martin (136), a rising senior at Clemson, Josh Brock (137), a rising junior at UNC-Wilmington, and Michael Sim (137), the leading money winner this year on the Nationwide Tour. Playoff survivors were Nationwide Tour pro Jeff Brehaut, mini-tour player Jeff Kirk, and recent Virginia Tech graduate Drew Weaver.
Funk, who had surgery 13 months ago and an ensuing staff infection scare, will turn 53 on Sunday as he makes his way to Bethpage Black (N.Y.) for the Open, June 18-21.
“I was sick — really sick — for six weeks in the winter,” said Funk. “My knee is left bone-on-bone. It’s really arthritic and really weak. I got this limp now. It’s not my knee that I’m worried about — I know I’m getting that replaced — but it’s screwing up my hip from limping all the time.”
If Funk is breaking down physically, it didn’t show as he shot 5-under-par (70-69 – 139), playing his familiar precision game — fairways and greens. With a little more luck with his putter, Funk could have shot 65 in the afternoon.
Part of the problem is his knee, which doesn’t allow him to get a low-angle look. Monday afternoon, he was reading greens from a standing position, relying on his caddie for alignment. While his unknown playing partners — mini-tour pros Daryl Chappell (Dinwiddie, Va.) and B.J. Staten (Dallas) — regularly outdrove him by 25-50 yards, Funk was far superior with his irons.
“I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m swinging without pain,” said Funk, who has five top-10 finishes in eight events this year on the Champions Tour.
While no one was surprised that Sim advanced, the two amateurs at the top of the leaderboard were stunners.
Martin, the No. 2 player at Clemson, was thrilled to make the Open after losing in a playoff in Sectional Qualifying last year. In qualifying for the Open for the first time, Brock sizzled in the afternoon, making eight birdies to match the best tournament round of his career (65).
“I didn’t know what to think,” said Brock, who won the Cavalier Classic this spring. “I’m here with all these pros, a lot of names I’ve heard. It’s a little intimidating. But I just thought about playing the course.”
Weaver, who gained sudden notoriety when he won the 2007 British Amateur, qualifying for the 2007 British Open and 2008 Masters, advanced with a par on the second playoff hole.
“I’ve worked so hard proving to myself that I really did have the game,” said Weaver. “I think it’s really important when you win something big, like I did, to keep playing well. I’ve worked my butt off. Just good to see things finally coming together.”
