SAN ANTONIO –
Aug 15, 2006:
Popular
Champions Tour
Rookie Fred Funk
has announced he
will play in the
2006 AT&T
Championship
presented by
Alcatel, October
16-22 at
Oak Hills
Country Club
in San Antonio.
Funk, 50, will
be making just
his third and
likely last
appearance of
his successful
2006 rookie
campaign after
back-to-back T11th
place finishes
at the U.S.
Senior Open and
Ford Senior
Players
Championship.
He is competing
in this week’s
PGA Championship
at Medinah
Country Club
outside of
Chicago, his
fourth major
championship of
the year on the
PGA Tour, where
he has already
captured more
than $1.2
million dollars
in prize money.
“I’m really
looking forward
to making San
Antonio the
third stop of my
Champions Tour
career,” said
Funk, a 17-year
veteran of the
PGA Tour. “I’ve
always loved San
Antonio, loved
the course at
Oak Hills and
think it’s just
a great
tournament to
play in, and one
I’m very much
looking forward
to.”
It will be a
return to the
Alamo City for
Funk, where he’s
played in 10
Texas Opens
including four
times when it
was played at
Oak Hills, the
current site of
the AT&T
Championship
which features a
purse of $1.6
million dollars,
$240,000 to the
winner.
“We’re certainly
very pleased and
delighted that
such a popular
figure in golf
and a great Tour
rookie in Fred
Funk would
decide to make
this year’s AT&T
Championship
just his third
stop on the
Champions Tour,”
said AT&T
Tournament
Director Colby
Callaway.
“Combined with
our great
defending
champion Jay
Haas, and the
many great
Champions Tour
and local
players
competing for
the final spots
in the last
tournament
before the
Charles Schwab
Championship, we
feel this could
be our strongest
field ever.”
Funk’s
appearance will
be another step
in his
remarkable
career which has
seen him go from
University of
Maryland golf
coach in the
1980s to seven
career PGA Tour
victories,
ranging from the
1992 Shell
Houston Open to
the 2005
Players’
Championship. He
also returned to
San Antonio to
finish second in
the 2002 Texas
Open.
His fan-friendly
demeanor has
traditionally
drawn some of
the largest
galleries on the
PGA and
Champions Tour.
Already this
year he has six
top 25 finishes
on the PGA Tour
including a tie
for second at
New Orleans in
April.
Funk said he
will continue to
play both Tours
in 2006 and
possibly in ’07
and would
consider playing
in the 2006
Texas Open in
San Antonio if
not chosen for
this year’s
Ryder Cup Team.
“I’ll keep
playing both
tours as long as
I feel I’m
capable of doing
it and have an
impact on a
regular basis,”
Funk said.
He has made the
36-hole cut in
both the U.S.
and British
Opens this year
and could be a
factor in this
year’s PGA
Championship.
After a slow
start in his
first Champions
Tour event at
the Senior Open
in July, Funk
rallied for a
third round 65,
surging his way
up the leader
board. He stayed
among the
leaders all
weekend in his
second Champions
Tour major at
the
TPC-Dearborn.
“I feel like I’m
playing well and
just have to be
patient and good
things will
happen,” he
said.
