What a Skins Game it was for Fred Funk, who went from wearing a pink skirt on the third hole to walking away with nearly all the money in La Quinta, Calif.
“Wow,” Funk said in disbelief Sunday on the 18th green, where he had just won the final $550,000 and six skins, for a total of $925,000 and 15 skins in his first try.
Funk had a two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th, then clinched the record-setting victory when Tiger Woods missed an 8-foot birdie putt.
The 49-year-old Funk became the oldest Skins Game winner and took all $700,000 available Sunday.
“I’m still in shock that I got asked to be in this thing,” said Funk, who was invited to his first Skins Game after winning The Players Championship in March. “I’ve always watched it on TV and was shocked to be part of it. It’s something that I didn’t even dream of, actually. First of all, I didn’t dream that I’d win The Players Championship.”
Before the made-for-TV tournament, Woods told Funk he would never live it down if Annika Sorenstam outdrove him on even one hole. It happened on the third hole Saturday, and Funk good-naturedly pulled a pink skirt over his pants and finished the hole.
But Woods might not want to underestimate the short-but-accurate Funk anymore.
“It started off with some nice birdies at first, and after that Funky just took over,” Woods said.
Coincidentally, Funk won $775,000 and 12 skins on two par-5s.
The $925,000 and 15 skins were records for a rookie.
Almost as surprising as Funk winning practically the entire purse was Fred Couples, the King of Skins, getting shut out for the first time in 12 appearances.
“Getting nothing is not the end of the world,” said Couples, who still holds the Skins Game career records with $3,515,000 and 77 skins. “I’ve gotten my share. So I’m tickled pink just to be here.”
Woods won the other $75,000, on the third hole Saturday.
Sorenstam was shut out for the second straight year.
“This course is long for me to start with, and you put some wind and some firm greens, it made it really tough for me to get it close,” said Sorenstam, the LPGA star playing in her third straight Skins Game. “It’s an honor simply to come here. This is a great experience for me.”
Australian Open: Robert Allenby played through a painful finger injury to win the event in Fingal, shooting a 5-over-par 77 in windy conditions to hold off Australian countrymen John Senden, Nick O’Hern and Paul Sheehan by a stroke.
Allenby, also the 1994 winner, took a five-stroke lead into the final round, but considered withdrawing because of the nerve problem in his right middle finger. He withdrew from an event the previous week and said he couldn’t hold a club for days.
The four-time PGA Tour winner finished with a 4-under 284 total on the sun-baked Moonah Links course. He opened with a course-record 63 and added consecutive 72s.
Casio World Open: Toru Taniguchi of Japan shot a 3-under 69 to win his first title of the year with a two-stroke victory over Kim Jong Duck of South Korea in Kochi, Japan.
Taniguchi made five birdies, including one on the final hole, against two bogeys as he finished the tournament at 11-under 277.
Michelle Wie, making her sixth start in a men’s pro event, missed the cut by a stroke earlier in the tournament.
