PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Fred Funk returned to TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course this weekend, site of his signature PGA TOUR win at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2005. There was plenty to reminisce about. After a string of weather delays on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, this year’s PLAYERS will finish on Monday for the first time since Funk’s triumph, where he completed 32 holes on a marathon final day, becoming the oldest PLAYERS champion at age 48. This year’s field will face a similar challenge, with the third round’s final grouping of Sam Burns, Tom Hoge and Harold Varner III completing nine holes as play was halted Sunday due to darkness. The plethora of contenders – 17 players within four shots of leader Anirban Lahiri – will aim to channel their inner Funk, who weathered gusts up to 42 mph with 2-under play across those 32 holes. Monday’s conditions at TPC Sawgrass aren’t slated to be quite as severe, but winds of 14-16 mph will pose a demanding test on the water-infused Pete Dye layout. As he returned to the scene of his iconic triumph – punctuated with an up-and-down for par from a greenside bunker at the 72nd hole and a hat spike – Funk offered some words of advice to the field. “You’ve just got to stay super focused,” said Funk of the best way to handle a marathon Monday finish. “The biggest thing in these kind of conditions is hitting it solid. If you’re not hitting the ball solid, you have no control, none at all. “It’s not only a big-time tournament, and it’s got the prestige of being the fifth major, but it’s also on a really, really hard golf course. It’s a very visually intimidating golf course in normal conditions, and then when you’ve got conditions like this, you’ve just got to stay super focused.” Monday finishes at THE PLAYERS haven’t just produced the oldest winner in tournament history, but also some of its most memorable finishes. Hal Sutton’s famous “Be the right club today” shot clinched his win on a Monday in 2000, and Tiger Woods won his first PLAYERS on a Monday a year later after a duel with Vijay Singh that saw Singh make a triple bogey and an eagle in the final five holes. It was Woods at the height of his powers, as he won the Masters a few weeks later to complete the Tiger Slam. He held the five largest titles in golf concurrently. Funk, who was men’s golf coach at the University of Maryland before earning his TOUR card, spent the majority of his TOUR career as a resident of Ponte Vedra Beach. The home-field advantage came in handy during the myriad weather delays throughout the week. That Saturday, competition was delayed after Funk completed three holes. He went home for lunch and a nap. “My caddie comes running in; he says, ‘Wake up, wake up. We’re in position on the 10th tee in 20 minutes,’” remembered Funk. “I go, ‘Wow, if I weren’t so close, I would’ve missed my tee time.’ “I just threw on my pants and I went to the 10th tee, and then we play three or four more holes, and back off the course again. So it was that kind of week.” Funk’s defining stretch came midway through the fourth round, as he rattled off four birdies in a seven-hole stretch, punctuated with an aggressive line into the par-3 13th and subsequent 6-foot birdie. “The pin was really tucked left, right by the water, right by the bulkhead,” remembered Funk. “There were like four paces onto the green, and I was left of the hole, closer to the water than it was to the pin. It could’ve gone in the water and it didn’t, and I made birdie there.” After three-putt bogeys on 14 and 15, Funk faced another critical moment with his second shot into the par-5 16th. One of the most historically accurate drivers of the golf ball, Funk split the fairway, leaving 234 yards into the hole. The wind whipped. Funk pulled 3-iron and played boldly. “A little bit of a hook lie, side of the mound, and the wind is howling, and I aimed 10 yards out into water on purpose,” recalled Funk. “I started it dead on line, 10 yards out into the water, and I hit it so solid that the wind didn’t hit it at first. So I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s going in the water,’ and finally the wind slammed it and I got it up on the green, 20 feet for eagle. “A shot you’re normally not going to try in that big of a tournament, but the conditions were so difficult, and the guys I saw later when I saw some replays, they aimed at the middle or left side of the green and played it safe, they got it blown over into the left side of these mounds, and you’re dead over there. “Taking on the pin and taking on shots, I did that all day. I got away with it on some, that probably shouldn’t have.” Funk three-putted for bogey on 17, a result he didn’t mind as much, considering the alternatives – “I’m watching everybody hit it in the water.” With par on 18, he posted 9-under total, then watched as Luke Donald and Scott Verplank failed to make closing birdie to match. Who will follow in Funk’s footsteps and raise THE PLAYERS trophy on a marathon Monday? Time will tell. “I was ecstatic,” said Funk, who recorded eight PGA TOUR victories in addition to nine on PGA TOUR Champions. “It was my signature win.”
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