Veteran Funk defies pain
AMERICAN veteran Fred Funk overcame nagging back pain to defeat Argentina’s Jose Coceres on the second play-off hole to win the $US3.5 million ($4.4 million) PGA Mayakoba Classic today (AEDT).
Funk won with a birdie on the second play-off hole after the pair finished 72 holes on 14-under-par 266, one stroke ahead of Australia’s Peter Lonard and two better than American Ryan Armour.
By taking the $US630,000 ($796,000) top prize at the first US PGA Tour event in Mexico, Funk matched compatriot Craig Stadler as the only players to win a US PGA tournament after a triumph on the 50-and-over Champions Tour.
Funk, 50, won at Turtle Bay last month by 11 strokes while Stadler captured the 2003 B.C. Open a week after claiming the Senior Players Championship.
It was the eighth career US PGA title for Funk, whose most recent previous PGA crown came at the 2005 Players Championship.
Coceres was thwarted in a bid for his first US PGA title since taking his only two tour crowns, the 2001 Heritage and Disney Classic titles.
He fired a one-under par 71 regulation round, making a birdie at the par-4 9th among 17 pars to match Funk, who had a one-over 71
He made a bogey at 2 then followed birdies at 7 and 13 with bogeys on the next holes.
Agence France-Presse