| Pine
Mountain, Ga, 1st October 1998
- Fred Funk changed his mind just in time. About
an hour before he was to tee off, a sore back had Funk thinking seriously about
withdrawing from the Buick Challenge. Instead,
after about a half-hour of therapy, he went out and shot a 9-under-par 63 today
for a share of the first-round lead with Jim Carter in the $1.5 million tournament.
Carter, 37,
a non-winner during his eight full years on the PGA Tour, shot his best round
of the year with nine birdies and no bogeys. Russ
Cochran was a stroke back after a 64, and Tom Byrum shot a 65. Steve
Elkington and Tim Herron, who played in the same threesome with Funk -- the group
was 22 under -- were three strokes back off the pace at 66 in the tournament worth
$270,000 to the winner. Also at that figure were leading money-winner David Duval,
Franklin Langham, J.L. Lewis and Frank Lickliter. The
field has 20 of the top 30 money-winners, including Vijay Singh, the PGA champion
and second on the money list, defending champion Davis Love III and Hal Sutton,
who won the Texas Open last week. Singh
and Love each had 69s. Sutton shot a 72. "Two
days ago my back went into spasms. I couldn't hit balls yesterday and considered
withdrawing on the range this morning," said Funk, who had 10 birdies --
seven putts of 10 feet or less, a pair of 15-footers and a 20-footer -- and a
lone bogey on No. 17 over the 7,057-yard Mountain View Course at the Callaway
Gardens resort 75 miles southwest of Atlanta. But
physical therapist Tom Boers of Columbus, who works with several other pros, including
Fred Couples, Love and Ernie Els, came to the rescue. "He
worked on me beginning at 6:15 a.m. for a half-hour," said the 42-year-old
Funk, who then went out to the practice range where he still was unable to make
a full swing without pain. That's
when the former University of Maryland coach, who came on the tour full-time in
1989, thought about withdrawing. "But,
Tom said it would loosen up as I went along," said Funk, 30th on the money
list with $825,458, including a victory at the Deposit Guaranty Classic in July,
his fifth career win. Boers
turned out to be right as Funk quickly birdied Nos. 2 and 3 and went out in 31
on the front nine, 5 under and had it at 10 under with five more birdies on the
back before his bogey on the par-4, 408-yard 17th when he hit his second shot
into a bunker and three-putted. "I
had 62 in mind when I made the turn, but I made that one mistake on 17. That frosts
me a little bit, but you can't moan about a 63," said Funk, who won here
in 1995 and finished second in 1996 when he lost in a five-man playoff to Michael
Bradley. Carter,
who has four third place career finishes, including one this year, made six birdies
on his last nine holes, including a 40-footer. "I'm
fine. I've got no complaints," said Carter when told about Funk's back problem.
"I'm in tip-top shape." DIVOTS:
Steve Lowery holds the tournament record of 60 which he shot in 1997. ... Tom
Watson made his first appearance since 1973 in the tournament which was played
in Columbus, Ga., that year. He shot a 70. ... The remnants of Hurricane Georges
soaked the course Tuesday night, canceling Wednesday's pro-am tournament. But
under the leadership of course superintendent Gary Wilder, he and his crew put
in more than 200 man-hours on Wednesday and the course was in excellent shape
today. ... Georgia Tech's Matt Kuchar, winner of the Fred Haskins Award as the
outstanding collegian golfer of 1998, was presented the award at a dinner here
tonight. The low amateur at the Masters this year, Kuchar shot a 72. | 
