Funk Sets the Standard at Broadmoor
Floridian shoots 65 for one-shot lead in U.S. Senior Open
By Gary Baines
Colorado Golf Journal, Thursday, July 31, 2008
Fred Funk watches his missed birdie putt on the eighth hole during the first round of the 2008 U.S. Senior Open Championship at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs on Thursday July 31.
(Copyright USGA/John Mummert)
COLORADO SPRINGS -- Fred certainly wasn’t in any Funk on Thursday, if you’ll pardon the pun.
On a day when only 13 other players broke par at the U.S. Senior Open, 52-year-old Fred Funk from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., threatened to go into the low 60s, which generally doesn’t sit too well with the folks at the U.S. Golf Association during their highest-profile events.
Funk started out with an eagle and two birdies in his first four holes at the Broadmoor’s East Course, and finished with a round of 5-under-par 65 despite a three-putt bogey on No. 18.
“I think I could have shot 61 or 62 out there today,” said Funk, winner of three events on the Champions Tour and eight on the PGA Tour. “I had enough opportunities to do that.
“This is the kind of course that rewards you if you play well. If not, it’s going to get you. There are no easy shots out there. … There aren’t too many guys who are going to fake it out there.”
Funk leads the way, but several other big names matched or bettered par on Thursday. That group includes World Golf Hall of Famers Tom Watson, Greg Norman and Tom Kite, along with fellow double-digit PGA Tour winners John Cook and Andy Bean.
Cook, loser in a playoff Sunday at the Senior British Open, trails Funk by a stroke. Kite, winner of 19 PGA Tour events, leads the group at 67, two shots back of Funk. Also at that number are Morris
Hatalsky, Spain’s Juan Quiros and Argentina’s Eduardo Romero, who led last year’s U.S. Senior Open after Round 1.
Five-time British Open winner Watson, a runner-up three times in the Senior Open, opened with a 69. Norman, who finished third two weeks ago at the British Open, came in at 70.
“I played well; I just couldn’t get it over the hump,” said Norman, who immediately made bogeys the hole after making his three birdies. “… I had three 3-putts, and hopefully I don’t have any more. Maybe I’ve had them all in one day.”
Castle Rock’s Gary Hallberg, just two months into his Champions Tour career, broke par in his first U.S. Senior Open round, shooting a 69.
As for other prominent players with Colorado ties, Colorado Springs native R.W. Eaks posted a 72, three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin had 74, Denver’s Mark Wiebe a 75, Evergreen’s Craig Stadler a 77 and Castle Rock’s Dale Douglass an 82.
Irwin, a former University of Colorado golfer who is looking for his third U.S. Senior Open title, three-putted four times.
“I played terrible; I didn’t do anything well,” said Irwin, the tournament’s honorary chairman. “I played well (Wednesday in a practice round). I shot 64. What happened today, I just don’t know.
“Obviously I wanted to play well here. But I’ve been getting off to bad starts all year. I’m always playing catch-up, catch-up, catch-up. There’s more ketchup on me than mustard right now.”
Cook needed a pick-me-up after squandering a three-shot lead on Sunday, bogeying the 72nd hole and losing the Senior British Open in a playoff. And Tiger Woods, a good friend, was there to give him one.
“We had a good chat the other day,” Cook said Thursday. “He was very supportive.”
At least for the short term, Tiger’s pep talk seem to do some good as Cook shot a 66.
“I didn‘t like the way I finished last week at all,” said Cook, no stranger to success in Colorado, with the 1987 International in Castle Rock among his 11 PGA Tour victories. “Second is not good. It still hurts. There‘s no doubt about it. (But) I decided that this week has started now and it’s a different week, different tournament, another major championship. … Let’s go at it again.”
