CT Insider: Past champ Funk heals in time for PLAYERS

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The defining moments of Fred Funk's career are easy to identify.

Now comes another.

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After a series of physical setbacks, the affable Funk can't wait to get back into the thick of things.

"I just want to be competitive again," Funk said. "I haven't been competitive for a while, since the end of the last year when my knee just petered out."

Funk targeted May. Now it's here and the start to the month was promising. Next up is THE PLAYERS Championship this week and history tells us that will always be a feel-good event for him.

Funk has teed it up eight times this year, five of those starts on the Champions Tour. THE PLAYERS will be his fourth event on the PGA TOUR.

He tuned up at the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic last week with easily his best finish of 2010, a tie for fourth achieved with back-to-back 69s to finish. There were plenty of encouraging signs.

"I'm starting to hit more quality shots," Funk said. "I'm playing golf -- actually the game looks like I'm playing golf a little bit now. Still got a ways to go, but my goal was to try to be ready by May and I'm getting pretty close."

The Stadium Course, one of the most demanding and challenging anywhere, will be a tremendous test for Funk and a proper send-off for the rest of the year.

"Now we're getting to the meat of the season for me," said Funk, who will also play the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the full complement of Champions Tour majors.

In 2005, Funk sent his legacy soaring with a victory at THE PLAYERS Championship. Until then, Funk had been a nice player with a nice story. On the Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass, he changed all that by becoming the oldest golfer ever to win THE PLAYERS at nearly 49.

A resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, Funk opened with a 65 on his home course and added two more under-par rounds at the back end to forge a 1-shot victory over Tom Lehman, Scott Verplank and Luke Donald. Suddenly, with a victory in one of golf's premier events, his career took on a new look.

THE PLAYERS was the seventh victory of Funk's career, and he would add another on the PGA TOUR at the 2007 Mayakoba Golf Classic.

In 2006, Funk celebrated his 50th birthday and eligibility for the Champions Tour. With the five-year exemption he earned at THE PLAYERS, he had the luxury of choosing to play either tour. It didn't take long for Funk to make an impact on the Champions Tour.

In his third Champions Tour start in October, 2006, he won the AT&T Championship. He won again in his fifth start, early in 2007, at the Turtle Bay Championship. In 2008, he added his first Champions Tour major at the JELD-WEN Tradition.

Then came another defining moment: the 2009 U.S. Open Championship at Crooked Stick.

Funk's performance at Crooked Stick was nothing short of sensational.

Funk, renowned for his pinpoint accuracy off the tee, dominated the field at Crooked Stick, a course famous for its length. Leading by 1 stroke through 54 holes, Funk shot a bogey-free 7-under-par 65 to win by six strokes. It was the largest victory margin in the championship in nearly two decades.

From start to finish at Crooked Stick, every facet of Funk's play was flawless. What made it all the more impressive is that Funk was playing on wounded knee.

In December 2008, Funk suffered a staph infection in his right knee following surgery earlier in the year. It delayed the start of his 2009 season some six weeks

A few months later, Funk went under the knife again, this time in November to replace his right knee.

Now he's back on two good knees. For those of us who love to watch fairways-and-greens golf, it will be fun to see Funk again doing what he does best.

Champions Tour Insider notes:

• David Eger's third career Champions Tour victory at the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic didn't come without help from his friends. In his post-victory interview, Eger ticked off all those who have offered advice and encouragement.

"It's been a project that's involved a lot of people," Eger said. "I've just been the fortunate one that gets to hold the club and hit the ball."

Prominent on that list is Howard Twitty.

"Something that Howard told me, and that was to get my eyes over the ball, has really seemed to help," Eger said. "It hasn't paid dividends until now, but progressively I've gotten a little bit better every week putting."

Counting the half-years.

Eger can tick off the names of golfers who are soon to be 50. He ran into commentator Billy Andrade on the practice tee in Biloxi and asked him, "How old are you?' Andrade's answer: "46-and-one-half."

"I said, 'Oh, you're going by half-years?'" Eger said.

That's what the Champions Tour has done. It has changed how professional golfers count the days, months and half-years.

• Gary Hallberg tied the course record at Fallen Oak Golf Club with a second-round 66 on his way to a T9. The card included eight 3s and 25 putts. It was an 8-stroke improvement after an opening 74 that had Hallberg shaking his head.

"I think I hit 14 greens, 11 fairways, I was striking the ball, 35 putts, and it was disappointing," Hallberg said. "I left the course with that confused kind of, 'I can't believe I shot 74.'"

The next day he owned the greens.