Fred Funk: What a Story!

Have to tell you, Fred and I conducted what I think is a riveting interview yesterday, and I choose that word because, quite honestly, the story of Fred Funk is truly compelling.

And in my opinion, his is one of the truly standout stories in golf, and it's a long story.

As Fred last year, talk about continuing to play, he became the 25th player in Tour history to play in 1,000 official events, including, of course, the PGA Tour Champions, where he won nine times.

Fred didn't win until his fourth year on Tour, and when I was watching Eric Cole in the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday, a lot of Fred Funk kind of came back to me with one missing link, unfortunately.

It's Eric Cole's fourth year on the PGA Tour.

And man, it looked so much that he was going to get his first win, and he played well after making double bogey on nine.

The comparisons are, are, are, are quite striking really.

You know, like Fred Funk, Eric Cole finally made his way to the PGA Tour in his 30s.

Battler, scrapper, good golf swing, and just works hard.

You can see it.

And he played that back nine in a real solid way, and then all of a sudden, that first win seemingly in his grasp, along comes this birdie barrage by Russell Henley, and it just upended his dream.

And as Fred and I talk about, it, it's, it's a case where Eric Cole didn't lose it, Russell Henley won it.

Kind of reminds me a little bit of Cameron Young and, and him not winning for quite some time, but, but not because he played poorly, but because somebody else played a little bit better.

And that was the case with Russell Henley, who won for the sixth time on the PGA Tour with that sudden death victory, birdying the last three holes in regulation, and then the 18th hole, the first hole in sudden death, to beat Eric by a shot.

Okay, so here's what Russell Henley had to say afterward about what he feels is the key to playing well at Colonial Country Club, and why the win on Sunday is so special for him.

I- it's just different this week.

A lot of these, the courses we play, you can really get away with hitting it in the rough and hitting it a long way, and clearly I don't hit it a long way.

But for this course, you have to be in the fairway to attack.

You have to control your irons.

You have to shape the ball.

You, it really tests every part of your game and asks you to be fully committed and fully clear on what you're doing, and the wind can be very tricky.

So with the history of the tournament, it's so cool to know that I've won it.

It, it's so special for so many reasons.

And it's special for anyone who puts on that plaid jacket, which is the one of many gifts that, uh, is given to the winner of the Charles Schwab Challenge.

It's Ben Hogan's golf club.

Have to tell you, Fred and I conducted what I think is a riveting interview yesterday, and I choose that word because, quite honestly, the story of Fred Funk is truly compelling.

And in my opinion, his is one of the truly standout stories in golf, and it's a long story.

As Fred last year, talk about continuing to play, he became the 25th player in Tour history to play in 1,000 official events, including, of course, the PGA Tour Champions, where he won nine times.

Fred didn't win until his fourth year on Tour, and when I was watching Eric Cole in the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday, a lot of Fred Funk kind of came back to me with one missing link, unfortunately.

It's Eric Cole's fourth year on the PGA Tour.

And man, it looked so much that he was going to get his first win, and he played well after making double bogey on nine.

The comparisons are, are, are, are quite striking really.

You know, like Fred Funk, Eric Cole finally made his way to the PGA Tour in his 30s.

Battler, scrapper, good golf swing, and just works hard.

You can see it.

And he played that back nine in a real solid way, and then all of a sudden, that first win seemingly in his grasp, along comes this birdie barrage by Russell Henley, and it just upended his dream.

And as Fred and I talk about, it, it's, it's a case where Eric Cole didn't lose it, Russell Henley won it.

Kind of reminds me a little bit of Cameron Young and, and him not winning for quite some time, but, but not because he played poorly, but because somebody else played a little bit better.

And that was the case with Russell Henley, who won for the sixth time on the PGA Tour with that sudden death victory, birdying the last three holes in regulation, and then the 18th hole, the first hole in sudden death, to beat Eric by a shot.

Okay, so here's what Russell Henley had to say afterward about what he feels is the key to playing well at Colonial Country Club, and why the win on Sunday is so special for him.

I- it's just different this week.

A lot of these, the courses we play, you can really get away with hitting it in the rough and hitting it a long way, and clearly I don't hit it a long way.

But for this course, you have to be in the fairway to attack.

You have to control your irons.

You have to shape the ball.

You, it really tests every part of your game and asks you to be fully committed and fully clear on what you're doing, and the wind can be very tricky.

So with the history of the tournament, it's so cool to know that I've won it.

It, it's so special for so many reasons.

And it's special for anyone who puts on that plaid jacket, which is the one of many gifts that, uh, is given to the winner of the Charles Schwab Challenge.

It's Ben Hogan's golf club.