Swing tip from wife pays quick dividends for Funk

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HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Fred Funk says his wife, Sharon, isn't afraid to tell him what she thinks.

Fred Funk matched the tournament low with a 64 on Friday. (Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

Inside the Numbers

Funk thru 36 Holes

Category Total Rank Eagles 1 T1 Birdies 7 T41 Pars 26 T5 Bogeys 2 T62 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 82.1% 1 Driving Distance 296.3 yds. T30 Greens in Regulation 83.3% T2 Putts per Round 30.0 T49 Putts per GIR 1.733 T34 Sand Saves 80.0% T17

Most of the time, he even listens, and Thursday evening's chat paid particular dividends during the second round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Sharon Funk noticed a flaw in her husband's swing as he opened the $5.3 million event at Waialae Country Club with a 69. An accomplished player who once tried to play professionally herself, she's more perceptive than most.

So when she told Funk to concentrate on keeping his back to the target to insure a full rotation, he listened. The result was a 64 on Friday that matched the tournament's low round and vaulted the ageless 51-year-old into a tie for fourth, four strokes off the pace set by K.J. Choi.

Funk didn't make a bogey in the second round, and he capped off the proceedings in style with a 9-foot eagle putt in the ninth hole. Funk, who won events on both the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour last year, shot 30 on his second nine of the day.

"I just played super solid," Funk said. "I only missed one green, and that was on the fringe on the first hole, which was my 10th (of the day). I'm playing great."

Thanks to his wife's tip, Funk is now in contention for his ninth PGA TOUR title. Over the first two rounds, he has hit all but five of his fairways and six of the greens in regulation to rank first and tied for second in those categories, respectively.

"He was trying to take his arms back and his body wasn't leading the legs," Sharon explained as she sat on a golf cart outside the scoring trailer on Friday afternoon.

"His arms were back and then he was flipping them. I just said turn your back to the target and you'll get a better turn, and he immediately started doing it."

Funk knew he had been pulling his irons and hitting them a little thin in the first round so he welcomed the advice. He said things clicked on the range Thursday night and continued to feel right as he warmed up prior to his 7:40 a.m. tee time.

"It ended up being a thought that I could picture and that's key with me," Funk said. "I just had to really be patient on my backswing, which I wasn't doing. That's what she was saying. Basically, it looked like I was cutting everything short and rushing down with my arms. Just get your back to the target. That was just a pretty simple tip."

Funk works with the same teacher, Bill Moretti, who once taught his wife. So it's easy for both to stay "on message," as it were.

"She has a good eye for it," Funk said. "(Moretti) sticks with very fundamental ideas and she knows them all. She's played golf at a high level. And the thing with Sharon, she's not afraid to tell me anything -- good or bad."

Sharon Funk says that over the years she's learned to keep her advice more focused, rather than making multiple suggestions.

"I used to, like, throw out 400 things," she explained with a smile. "He'd be like, are you just guessing, and I'm like, no, we'll get there. Yesterday it was like I saw it and I could tell him immediately.

"I kind of learn to not go too far with tinkering because then he gets way off track. Usually, it's rhythm or turn or set-up or something like that. He's very receptive."

Funk plans to play between 15-17 events on the PGA TOUR, depending on whether he gets into the majors since he is currently not exempt for any of them. He'll also play at least 12 on the Champions Tour, including the next two weeks in Hawaii where he will defend his Turtle Bay Championship.

Funk calls the stretch his ""Hawaii Slam" and he says, "I'd like to start the year off like that all the time." First, though, he needs to capture a PGA TOUR event to get back to the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship.

The Sony Open in Hawaii would be a good place to start.