Funk used his accuracy in the fairways and into the greens to outlast the field during a week hampered by one rain delay after another
Two-Minute Drill: Players Championship, spring high school sports
The Players Championship takes place in Ponte Vedra Beach near Jacksonville this Thursday through Sunday; high school spring sports take center stage.
- Fred Funk, known for his accuracy off the tee, won the 2005 Players Championship at the age of 48.
- Funk’s victory came in challenging weather conditions, with heavy rain and strong winds throughout the tournament.
- Despite being one of the shortest hitters on Tour, Funk’s accuracy and strong short game proved to be key to his success.
Fred Funk never felt he was at a disadvantage at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass because he was among the shortest hitters off the tee on the PGA Tour.Â
He was also the straightest, and never had to be shy about hitting his driver.
“I hit the driver everywhere,” said the native of Maryland and long-time First Coast resident. “The big hitters had holes where they had to lay back a little bit but I was always able to hit where they were because I was so straight. To me, it was never a drawback in The Players.”Â
Especially not 20 years ago in 2005, when Funk became the oldest winner of The Players at the age of 48 with a one-shot margin over three other PGA Tour veterans, Tom Lehman, Scott Verplank and Luke Donald.Â
Funk was true to form that week. He led the field in driving accuracy, hitting 85.7 percent of his fairways (48 of 56) and that set up an 80.6 percent greens in regulation number, which also led the field.Â
He was 80th in the field in driving distance among the 82 players who made the cut (253.4 yards per measured drive) but the historical lesson in more than four decades of The Players at the Stadium Course is that distance matters the least.Â
Still, 2005 was the beginning of the “bomb and gouge” era of golf in which big hitters such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III learned that a wedge from the rough was better than a 7-iron from the fairway. Â
And playing that style, Woods, Mickelson, Love, David Duval, Fred Couples, Greg Norman and Craig Perks were among the long hitters who won a Players.Â
But there’s always room for players such as Funk, Tom Kite, Webb Simpson and K.J. Choi, who have won The Players with short, but controlled drives.Â
Funk was the poster boy for driving accuracy and was the Tour leader in the category five times.Â
He could hit a fairway the width of a city sidewalk. It was Funk’s rep, and he embraced it.
Fred Funk one of the most popular players on TourÂ
Funk had established himself as a solid PGA Tour winner long before the 2005 Players, with six victories in 12 years. Along the way he became one of the most popular players with fans, his fellow pros and the media for his self-deprecating personality and his working-class roots growing up in suburban Washington D.C.Â
Funk was a club professional and the golf coach at the University of Maryland before finally getting his PGA Tour card at the age of 34. And 10 years before the 2005 Players, he moved to Ponte Vedra and lived in a house just off the 10th tee of Dye’s Valley, which became a hub of social activity during the week of The Players.Â
His legion of friends and admirers even banded together to form a fan club: Funk’s Punks. Their T-shirts could be seen throughout any gallery at The Players.Â
Before the 2005 tournament, Funk had one top-10 finish, a tie for seventh at the rain-shortened Nissan Open in Los Angeles. He tied for 27th the week before at the Arnold Palmer Invitational but no one really saw him coming.Â
However, Funk felt he was on the verge. And he had made 13 of 14 cuts in The Players entering that season, with a tie for 10th in 2004.Â
“I thought I was hitting the ball well,” he said.Â
Funk on fire in the first roundÂ
In the first round, Funk did better than play well. He was near-flawless, missing only one fairway and three greens. Funk fired a bogey-free 65 to finish one shot behind Steve Jones.Â
It was the last good weather day of the week. Friday’s second round was completely washed out. Saturday and Sunday saw the field only get in partial rounds.Â
The Stadium Course, 25 years old at the time, was not draining well (there would be a renovation the next year) and the grounds crews were unable to keep up with the volume of rain.Â
The second round wasn’t completed until 11 a.m. on Sunday. The field got in less than three hours of golf before Sunday was suspended.Â
When players returned on Monday, some had only played a few holes of their third round. The plan was to get in as much golf as possible and hope they could beat darkness so there wouldn’t be an unprecedented Tuesday finish.Â
 Funk was facing 31 holes.
‘I’ve got it … I’ve got it today’Â
Through the stop-start nature of the week, veterans such as Funk, Lehman, Donald, Verplank, Joe Durant, and past Players champion Steve Elkington, Love and Adam Scott gradually rose to the top.Â
On Monday, which dawned sunny but with wind gusts as high as 35 mph, tournament officials didn’t even regroup the players after the third round ended at 12:26 p.m., sending them back onto the course to start their fourth rounds without a break.Â
However, Funk felt something. His first shot upon returning on Monday was his second shot on the difficult par-5 fourth hole in his third round. The wind was howling and Funk had to hit a 5-iron into the green.Â
He made par.Â
Funk then had to hit a…
