Fred Funk

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Fred Funk
Personal Information
Birth June 14, 1956 (1956-06-14) (age 52)
Takoma Park, Maryland, U.S.
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.72 m)
Nationality Flag of the United States United States
Wife Sharon
Children Eric, Taylor Christian, Perri Leigh
Residence Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, U.S.
College University of Maryland
Career
Turned Pro 1981
Current tours PGA Tour (joined 1989)
Champions Tour (joined 2006)
Professional wins 15 (PGA Tour: 8, Champions Tour: 3,
Other: 4)
Best Results in Major Championships
Masters T17: 1997
U.S. Open 6th: 2004
British Open T66: 2006
PGA Championship T4: 2002

Frederick "Fred" 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, not becoming a member of the PGA Tour until 1989.

He picked up a number of wins from 1992 onwards, and without quite becoming one of the top stars on the tour, did well enough to reach the top 20 on the career money list.[1] He was a member of the United States teams at the 2003 and 2005 Presidents Cup and the 2004 Ryder Cup.

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, though his win came at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, 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 in that period--save one.

On March 28, 2005 he 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.

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

He currently resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA.

Fred Funk dons a skirt
Fred Funk dons a skirt

Contents

[edit] Professional wins (15)

[edit] PGA Tour (8)

[edit] Other (4)

[edit] Champions Tour (3)

[edit] 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
The Masters T37 DNP DNP CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open CUT T44 DNP T35 6 T23 T40 T30
The Open Championship CUT DNP DNP CUT DNP CUT T66 DNP
PGA Championship T9 T70 T4 T7 CUT T47 T20 CUT

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

[edit] United States national team appearances

[edit] See also

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[edit] External links

v • d • e
2004 American Ryder Cup Squad
Chad Campbell ·  Stewart Cink ·  Chris DiMarco ·  Fred Funk ·  Jim Furyk ·  Jay Haas ·  Davis Love III ·  Phil Mickelson ·  Kenny Perry ·  Chris Riley ·  Hal Sutton (captain) ·  David Toms ·  Tiger Woods