Funk Pulls It Together, Wins Rain-Extended TPC

In the toughest round ever on the TPC at Sawgrass, Fred Funk found himself tied for the lead in the Players Championship as he stood in the 16th fairway.

He had 234 yards to a green partially surrounded by water. A glance to the right revealed an even scarier sight: the island-green 17th hole, buffeted by 35-mph gusts.

Funk, 48, knew he was running out of time.

“I just felt like, how many chances do I have to win? I was letting the Players Championship go, and I didn’t want to let it go,” Funk said. “I wanted to be aggressive and try to win the thing.”

He atoned for some putting lapses down the stretch by saving par from a bunker with a five-foot putt on the 18th hole to become the oldest winner at the Players Championship.

“It’s the biggest win by far that I’ve ever had,” Funk said. “This is the strongest field that we play all year long. It’s a really hard golf course. I hung in there, barely. But it’s an awful good feeling.”

Funk closed with a one-under-par 71 in the final round at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., where the average score was 76.512, the highest in the history of the event.

It wasn’t over until Luke Donald of England hit a four-iron just over the back of the 18th green, then hit his 20-foot birdie putt just left of the cup for a 76.

Earlier, Scott Verplank had slung his putter in disbelief when his 10-foot par putt on the 18th lipped out for a 70.

“I did everything I was supposed to do,” Verplank said. “It just didn’t go in.”

Donald and Verplank finished one shot behind, along with Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman, whose 68 was the best score of the final round.

Funk had reason to believe he didn’t belong.

As he walked off the fifth tee just before the third and final rain delay Sunday, he shook his head and said with a smile, “I feel like a Volkswagen, like Herbie the Love Bug, in a field of Ferraris,” alluding to his lack of power.

But he kept it between the lines, and had just enough gas at the end.

Funk finished at nine-under 279, the highest winning score on tour this year, and won $1.44 million from the richest purse of the year.

Tennis

Top-ranked Roger Federer survived a scare and beat Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 Open at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Federer extended his winning streak to 18 matches and improved to 44-1 since the start of last year’s U.S. Open. But he hardly looked invincible against unseeded Zabaleta.

Serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, Federer double-faulted on break point, then lost his next service game.

After some shaky moments, he broke Zabaleta for a 5-3 lead in the final set, then served out the match.

Taylor Dent, seeded 31st, defeated a top-10 player for the fourth time this year by using a big serve to beat Guillermo Coria of Argentina, 6-3, 6-4.

Six-time champion Andre Agassi hit 12 aces and took barely an hour to beat Arnaud Clement of France, 6-2, 6-4. Agassi will next play seventh-seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina, who defeated Sebastien Grosjean of France, 6-2, 6-3.

Sixth-seeded Tim Henman of Britain defeated Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, 6-3, 6-1.

Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, seeded 19th and playing in her first tournament since the U.S. Open, reached the quarterfinals by beating seventh-seeded Alicia Molik of Australia, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Henin-Hardenne, a three-time Grand Slam champion, had been sidelined by a virus and knee injury.

Kim Clijsters of Belgium, unseeded and coming back from wrist surgery, beat fifth-seeded Anastasia Myskina of Russia, 6-3, 6-4. Clijsters has won 11 consecutive matches, including her first tournament title in 13 months this month at Indian Wells.

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, the U.S. Open champion, lost to 17-year-old Ana Ivanovic of Serbia Montenegro, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

The 6-foot Ivanovic next plays top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France, who beat 16th-seeded Karolina Sprem of Croatia, 6-1, 7-5. Second-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia eliminated Shinobu Asagoe of Japan, 6-1, 6-2, and fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia overcame nine double faults to rally past 17-year-old Tatiana Golovin of France, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

College Football

Arizona State resumed spring practice after a shooting that left a former player dead and running back Loren Wade in jail on suspicion of murder.

The practice was closed to the media, and players and coaches were barred by the university from talking to reporters at least through today “as part of the process for them to deal with the emotions that they have inside,” Athletic Director Gene Smith said.

Wade was being held without bond on suspicion of murder in the death of 25-year-old Brandon Falkner, of Tempe, Ariz., who was shot in the head early Saturday as he sat in his car outside a nightclub in south Scottsdale, Ariz. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday.

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California receiver Robert Jordan and a freshman teammate were suspended by Coach Jeff Tedford for their arrests during a traffic stop in February.

Jordan was suspended for the Golden Bears’ season opener against Cal State Sacramento on Sept. 3.

Bernard Hicks, a defensive back who sat out last season because of a knee injury, will sit out the first three games.

Hicks was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession after Berkeley police allegedly found several bags of the drug in the players’ car several blocks from Memorial Stadium.

Jordan was under investigation for possessing a hunting knife as a concealed weapon, but the charges were dropped.

Pro Football

Cleveland terminated the contract of guard Kelvin Garmon, who had been brought in by former coach Butch Davis last year to solidify the Browns’ offensive line.... Offensive tackle Barrett Brooks, a 10-year veteran, re-signed with Pittsburgh.... Houston re-signed long snapper Bryan Pittman, linebacker D.D. Acholonu and tight end Matt Murphy.