Fred Funk

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Frederick "Fred" Funk (born June 14, 1956) is an American professional golfer.

Fred Funk

Funk was born in Takoma Park, Maryland. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1980 with a degree in law enforcement and turned professional in 1981, but he worked as a golf coach at his former university from 1982 to 1988, and did not become a member of the PGA Tour until 1989. He picked up a number of wins from 1992 onwards, and without quite becoming one of the top stars on the tour, did well enough to reach the top 20 on the career money list. He was a member of the United States teams at the 2003 and 2005 Presidents Cup and the 2004 Ryder Cup.

Since turning 50 in June 2006, Funk has been eligible for Champions Tour events and debuted in the 2006 U.S. Senior Open. When he turned 50, he still featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

Funk is generally regarded as one of the shortest drivers on today's PGA Tour, but is always at or near the top of the driving accuracy statistics. In fact, many of his playing competitors are now regarding him as perhaps the straightest driver to ever play golf; in the past 14 years, Funk has achieved the highest driving accuracy on the PGA Tour seven times, and has been in the top five of this statistic for every year in that period--save one. On March 28, 2005 he picked up the biggest win of his career, becoming the oldest player ever to win The Players Championship as well as the Skins Game, during which, to satisfy a friendly bet, he wore a pink skirt that Annika Sorenstam pulled out of her golf bag when she outdrove Funk on the par five third hole. The skirt was actually picked out by his wife, Sharon. A popular player on tour, his fans are referred to as "Funk's Punks." He currently resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA.