CT Insider: Funk's comeback off to a good start

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Fred Funk tied for 39th at THE PLAYERS Championship last week.

There is a theme to Fred Funk's season. It's all about being The Comeback Kid.

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Funk's golf game is back. He proved it with a solid showing at THE PLAYERS Championship. The next goal is to take that game to the Champions Tour beginning this week at the Regions Charity Classic.

There was never any doubt that the spirit was willing but Funk had to sort out issues with his health. Now that his new right knee is improving, that frees him up to pursue his goals on the golf course.

"I'm getting back to where I was," Funk said. "I still feel like I've got a ways to go. I'm not near as strong as I need to be in that knee. And it just gets so achy by the end of the round.

"But the decision was the right one and I'm on my way, where it's getting better every week. I want to get really consistent again. I just want to be able to compete because that's where I expect to be whether it's the PGA TOUR or the Champions Tour."

At his best, few are more consistent than Funk, whose laser-like accuracy off the tee is the envy of golfers everywhere. At his best, he's among the elite on the Champions Tour, a golfer who plays big in the big events and doesn't shy away from a good tussle.

Funk has suffered a series of physical setbacks related to his knee. He underwent replacement surgery on November 16 and it has taken him until now to start thinking about returning to top form.

The new knee, Funk said, is "probably 75, 80 percent ... getting better all the time." Because of compensations, it fatigues at the end of rounds and it was painful down the stretch on the Stadium Course. At the end of the day, his performance at THE PLAYERS was nothing but encouraging.

Funk shot 72-70-68-78 -- 286 for a T39 finish.

Funk, 53, who lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, won THE PLAYERS in 2005. This year's event was the final exemption from that victory. To return again, he'll have to earn a spot. That's another of his goals this year.

"I was grinding like crazy trying to make it to the weekend," Funk said. "I just didn't want to miss it. It's going to be hard to be home and not playing THE PLAYERS. Now I'm part of the history of THE PLAYERS, it's home and it's my favorite tournament. I love this place.

"I'm going to try to fight my way back. Maybe I'll win the Senior Players or something to get back in. But you never know. It's been a fun run. Got to come to an end sometime. Hopefully this isn't it but we'll see."

In 2008, Funk suffered from a staph infection. It was the result of having his knee drained 18 times. He did it to keep playing in quest of the Charles Schwab Cup.

"I was trying to run down Jay Haas and I failed in that," Funk said. "I hate to dwell on it. But I've played the last 3 1/2-years with a lot of knee pain. It's just a part of life right now with me. It's getting better all the time, but it's still got a ways to go."

In each of the past two years, the chase proved costly for Funk.

"I was just a cripple at Sonoma both years," he said. "Basically what I've done the last two years on the Champions Tour is played really well in the majors and that's where I got all my points. Now the other Freddy -- THE Freddy -- is running away with everything, and I'm going to have to smoke the five majors to even think of catching him. But I plan on doing it."

THE Freddy, of course, is Couples, the new kid on the Champions Tour block. Graciously, Funk is deferring to the rookie while having every intention of making a statement of his own as the season progresses. With his game and health improving, one unalterably tied to the other, Funk's optimism is well-founded.

"What feels good is to be putting good again and rewarding my good shots," he said. "That's what I haven't been doing and that's what you've got to do to stay in contention or even get into contention."

A grip change with the putter at THE PLAYERS paid off for Funk.

"I started to hit the ball pretty good the last couple of weeks, and I saw signs of it coming around, but my putter was just horrible," he said. "I decided to go to the claw or pencil or whatever you want to call it."

Champions Tour Insider notes:

Funk put a new Taylor Made driver into play on each of the first three days at THE PLAYERS. He used the SuperTri, the Super Deep and then a new Burner in the third round. The Burner gave him more distance, enough so that Funk outpaced Tiger Woods in driving distance statistic. OK, it was an anomaly but that doesn't matter. Funk can now say, with substantiation, that he out-drove Woods. Funk averaged 263.5 yards, 69th among the 70 golfers who made the cut. Woods, looking for a club he could hit off the tee and keep it out of trouble, dialed back off the driver and averaged 261 yards.