And All the Girls Say He's Pretty Fly ...
by Mulligan Stu on Jul 4, 2008 10:14 AM EDT
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PrintFred Funk has a novel explanation a poor tee shot struck during Thursday's first round of the AT&T National: A dragonfly made me do it.
“I had a dragonfly hit my shaft on the way down,” Funk said. “And I just totally flinched and hit 150 yards off the tee dead right in the trees.”
If you think you flinched, Fred, imagine how the dragonfly felt ...
Funk had plenty to say in this tournament notebook, especially about one of Congressional's member par-5s that is playing as a 518-yard par-4 for the touring pros:
“I don’t like their mentality with that hole,” said Funk, who double-bogeyed the hole to mar his even-par round of 70. “I think it’s downright stupid, actually.” ...
“It’s a one-dimensional hole,” Funk said. “If you hit the fairway and you’re a long hitter, you can get your shot to fit in there. The shorter hitters are going to have a long, long, long shot in there with a green that’s really designed for a wedge.”
And stupid it may be, but all the guys have to play it, and at the end of the day the par of any individual hole doesn't really matter - only the total number of strokes each player has taken over the full 18 holes. Approach the hole as you need to in order to make the best score, whether that is firing a long club at a small green, or laying up - which is what Corey Pavin did - even though it's a par-4 so you'll have a wedge into that small green.
Still, Funk's ire is understandable. When the PGA Tour or the USGA turns a par-5 into a par-4, it does disproportionately affect the short hitters.
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of course it's dumb...
...it’s not an ideal layout for a hole to be considered a par 4 – but it’s a straight-away 518 yard hole. Those same long hitters would be going for the green if it was a par 3 or a par 12. par is just a number – the idea is to get the ball in the hole in as few shots as possible. you don’t get strokes taken off as style points if you get to put a mark in the eagle column. If Fred had made par or even birdie, he wouldn’t be complaining so much.
Joseph White, the writer of that tournament notebook noted that Drew Weaver wasn’t wearing Va Tech clothes, he was wearing a green shirt – but he apparently didn’t notice that the shirt was from Augusta National. I couldn’t tell if it said “Masters” on the logo – but if it just said Augusta National – that’s a very special shirt. You have to be there during a week other than Masters week to get anything with the club logo.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
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