Tags
Champions Tour, Cleveland Clinic, Fred Funk, Inverness Club, Knee, knee replacement, Tom Graham, United States Senior Open
Injuries might end Funk’s year on Sunday
- Local Knowledge Blog
TOLEDO, Ohio – The U.S. Senior Open will be Fred Funk‘s last tournament for a while. In fact, the 55-year-old, who has a pair of operations scheduled next week, might be done for the year.
Funk has a torn ligament in his left thumb and pain caused by scar tissue in his right knee, for which he had a total replacement on Nov. 16, 2009. Dr. Tom Graham is scheduled to repair Funk’s thumb Monday at the Cleveland Clinic. Funk plans to have knee surgery three days later in Jacksonville, Fla.
“The artificial knee itself is good – I’ve got tremendous range of motion and everything is functional, but it’s like I’m stepping on a nerve with every step,” Funk said after the third round at Inverness Club.
Funk injured his thumb at this year’s Greater Hickory Classic. “I swung a stretch stick right into a porch railing warming up and snapped my ligament,” he said. “I got a cortisone shot and for four weeks it didn’t bother me at all. I never had it checked and didn’t think it was that bad. Then the cortisone wore off and it got really bad.”
Funk vows to be patient in his recovery from both pending surgeries. “If I’m done for the season, so be it,” he said. “I’m not going to rush this. I rushed last time [after knee replacement]. I think I pushed it too hard, and that’s how I think I got the scar tissue.”
— Bill Fields
- Bill Fields,
- Champions Tour
- Fred Funk,
- U.S. Senior Open
Related articles
- Tiger Woods: Why a knee replacement is out… (earlsview.com)
- US Open 2011: 55-Year-Old Fred Funk Looking For One More Chance (sbnation.com)
- Funk heads a list of dreamers at US Open (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Open emotions run high for veteran Funk at Congressional (reuters.com)
- Emotions run high for veteran Fred Funk (theglobeandmail.com)
This news comes out of Toledo, Ohio about a 3 hrs drive from where I grew up and lived for 53 years. Akron, Ohio was only about 40 miles away from my hometown! They have a big golf tournament there too! And then there’s the Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio which is about an hour and a half away from the hometown, and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio…. oh, you get the picture…. I came from Ohio! LOL Not much there left where we lived, the steel mills closed down and of the 76,000 or so people who used to live there, 43,000 or so of us left… it’s close to being downgraded from a city to a village… it’s just a shame… but people needed to go where there was work… it’s sad, just sad… and I know it’s like this all over the world!
Yes – very sad – have driven through Allentown PA which is miles of defunct steel works – so sad. Bet the Chinese aren’t worried about carbon tax!
Earl