Weather Makes Things a Little Funky at PGA

If you had to sum up the first two days of the 84th PGA Championship in two words?

Storm warning.

Too bad, really, because Fred Funk was on Cloud 9.

For the second time in two days Friday, thunderstorms suspended play at Hazeltine National Golf Club with players on course and story lines on hold.

Second-round play was halted at 6:21 p.m., then officially called for the day at 6:38, in advance of an approaching storm that carried with it heavy rain, damaging wind and dangerous lightning.

Forty-one players were left on course and were scheduled to resume their rounds this morning, before the start of third-round play.

The 46-year-old Funk, who shared the first-round lead with Jim Furyk, was defying his age and having the time of his life when the weather horn sounded. It was almost like a parent having to call a kid inside for dinner.

“I had a little adrenaline going,” Funk said. “I was having fun, enjoying being in the lead of the PGA.”

Funk was at seven under par with five holes to play when he ducked for cover, one shot ahead of Mark Calcavecchia, Justin Leonard, Rich Beem and Retief Goosen, all of whom were in the clubhouse at six-under 138 after completing sun-shiny rounds earlier in the day.

Tiger Woods had tapped in for par with two holes left when play was halted. He stands at three under, four shots behind Funk.

Phil Mickelson, winless in 41 previous majors, is a safe bet to make it 42 after playing the first two days at four-over 148 with rounds of 76-72.

Mickelson finished play Friday with a double bogey at the par-four ninth, which nearly left him speechless.

“I don’t know what else to say,” he said. “It’s not like I feel like I’m playing horrific. I’m certainly not scoring well.”

Instead of challenging the leaders, Mickelson spent the evening wondering whether he would be playing over the weekend. It appeared before play was stopped that the cut would break at plus-four, which would leave Mickelson in the tournament, if not in contention.

Funk, in the meantime, got as low as eight under when he made a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-five third hole, thrusting his fist in the air after the ball rolled in.

Funk gave a shot back on the next hole, pulling his putt after a nice sand shot to within two feet, yet this “boo-boo,” as he called it, did not curb his enthusiasm.

Funk, surprisingly, has not been disadvantaged by his advanced golf age and lack of distance off the tee.

It turns out Hazeltine National is not quite the monster it was touted to be.

Although technically a long course at 7,630 yards, a lot of that distance is masked in the four par-five holes, one of which measures 636 yards.

It helps to explain how Funk, one of the shortest drivers on the PGA Tour, could be hanging with some of golf’s biggest sluggers.

Is it possible Funk, who has never won a major, can win this one?

“Yeah, I could,” he said. “Obviously, I’ve got to keep the putter going but, yeah, I could sneak in there and win one on this golf course, if the stars are lined up.”

Any way you look at it, golfers will be casting eyes toward the heavens.

As they say at the Weather Channel, stay tuned.

If you believe the weather synopsis, today’s third-round could be a repeat of Round 3 at the British Open. Yep, the round in which Woods shot himself out of the Grand Slam with an 81.

The gale that tore through Minneapolis on Friday night is supposed to leave in its wake wind gusts of 40 mph, which could turn today’s leaderboard upside down.

It might be a great day for fans who love to see their stars suffer and struggle like 18-handicappers.

“People like to see train wrecks,” Funk mused. “You’re going to see a lot of train wrecks out there.”

It could also, of course, give Woods a chance to make amends for his mess-up at Muirfield.

No one could deny Friday’s leaderboard was eclectic.

Leonard, Calcavecchia and Goosen have won major championships, although only Goosen has won recently--last year’s U.S. Open at Southern Hills.

Calcavecchia, who won the British Open in 1989, shot four-under 68 on Friday, yet offered no inkling he was headed for a major upswing. He missed the cut at the Masters and U.S. Open and finished tied for 80th at the British. He has been in the news recently only for calling Mickelson “a big goof,” in Golf Digest.

“I think that’s what people like to read,” Calcavecchia said, “Instead of the usual BS you hear from athletes.”

Leonard, the kid from Texas who won the 1997 British Open, is no kid anymore at 30. Another short hitter, Leonard has spent much of the season reworking his swing in order to keep up with the competition.

Leonard’s 66 on Friday suggests he may be ready for a reawakening.

Goosen, who opened play here with consecutive rounds of 69, appears a strong and confident man in majors, so long as Woods isn’t challenging.

“You know, really the only chance the other players have got is when he’s not really in contention,” Goosen said.

Beem, 31, is the oddball of the group, a former car stereo salesman who decided to give the PGA Tour a whirl after failing miserably as an assistant club pro at El Paso Country Club.

Beem explained: “I could do one thing very well, like, if you wanted me to fill out scorecards or do something for a tournament, I could do that. But give me three or four things to do, forget about it. I was lost.”

Beem, who birdied the last hole after his tee shot went well right and his approach shot scooted to within a few feet, joined the PGA Tour in 1999 and has won twice, at the 1999 Kemper Open and this year’s International.

On the course, Beem swigs Pepto Bismol to calm his stomach and easily had the most descriptive rundown of his best hole--a birdie on No. 12.

“I hit my drive way left over in the Porta Potti area and hit an eight-iron on the front edge and chipped that in,” he said.

Naturally, winning the PGA Championship would be thrilling beyond words.

Because?

“You get a lot of cool stuff if you win this thing,” Beem said.