COLORADO SPRINGS — Fred Funk’s travails on the first green Sunday in the final round of the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor were a sign of things to come.
Having played the first 54 holes without a three-putt on the treacherous Broadmoor greens, Funk three-putted right out of the gate. Although playing partner and eventual champion Eduardo Romero also bogeyed, the tone had been set.
“I ran it by, and I knew I was in trouble,” Funk said after his final-round 75 left him as the runner-up, a distant four shots behind Romero. “All of us were a little nervy early and could never get into any sort of rhythm. When you get in contention, you’ve got to deal with that.”
After starting the day two shots behind Romero, Funk played solid golf on the front nine, including a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 7. When he came to the 556-yard No. 9, Funk joked with the crowd as he was waiting to get on the par-5 in two shots.
Right before his 290-yard approach shot, he looked to the fans and said: “Looks like a long way, doesn’t it? . . . Probably because it is.”
Funk rifled a 3-wood through the green and had a makable eagle chip, which would have drawn him even with Romero, who missed his birdie putt on the hole.
Even after his chip rolled 6 feet by, Funk still had birdie on his mind. Instead, the shot lipped out and he had to settle for par, a result that did more mental damage than anything else.
“That was real disappointing, because I hit a really good shot, and actually that (second shot) was so close to going in. And if that is just a little softer, it catches that ridge instead of running into the fringe and then it’s going to be an eagle putt from about 5 feet,” said Funk, who finished tied for 11th last year at Whistling Straits in his first Senior Open appearance. “I thought I hit a good chip, it was just really fast, then hit a really good putt.”
With his frustration at a boiling point on the 10th tee, as witnessed by the repeated slamming of his clubhead cover against his bag, the golf gods again conspired against Funk. After nearly holing his second consecutive chip, this time for a birdie, Funk could only watch in disbelief as Romero drained a 45-foot birdie putt to go three shots up.
“The wheels were struggling a little bit from there,” Funk said, “especially after my drive on 11.”
With the wheels wobbling and Romero recording bogeys on Nos. 11-14, Funk, who bogeyed the par-4 No. 11, pressed a little too hard on the 476-yard No. 13. After a wayward tee shot went through the rough into some even higher grass, Funk tried to do too much with his second shot and got himself in further trouble.
“I should have just chipped it out to get past the bunkers and wedge it on the green and take my 5 and take my medicine and go,” he said. “I thought at the time it was almost between me and Eduardo and I needed to force the issue a little bit, and I just made a mistake.”
The resulting triple bogey left Funk four shots back with five holes to play, and it went from a two-horse race to a runaway.
“I was still concentrating, because Freddie is a good player,” Romero said. “If I make bogey and he makes birdie, that’s a two-stroke swing. I didn’t breathe until after my drive on No. 18.”
The happy-go-lucky Funk, who is a fan favorite, will stay in Colorado, playing a charity event Tuesday in Aspen and Vail later in the week before returning to Denver on Sunday.
“I’ve never played Cherry Hills,” he said. “I’m going to try to play it on Sunday.”
Perhaps by then he’ll forget about his last nine holes on the East Course.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
