PGA vet talks dresses and faith

When Fred Funk spoke Tuesday morning at the Christian Heritage Breakfast, his golfing exploits took a back seat to more colorful stories about wearing a skirt on national television, avoiding getting punched by Sugar Ray Leonard and, of course, his faith.

Funk, a veteran of the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, was the guest speaker at the 12th annual breakfast at the Crowne Plaza Resort on Hilton Head Island. The event was sponsored by the Presbyterian Men of the Church.

Funk, who has eight PGA wins, told the breakfast crowd his first sports love was boxing, which he practiced until age 8 while growing up in Maryland. He even ducked his head and flailed his arms wildly to show what he looked like the first time he entered the ring.

"You learn the finer points after you get your head knocked in a couple of times," Funk said.

He and boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard are the same age and grew up in the same county in Maryland.

But there was always just enough of a weight difference -- thankfully -- that the two never sparred, Funk said.

Funk also talked about perhaps his most famous television moment -- and it wasn't his winning the Players Championship in 2005. Instead, that moment came later that same year when Funk donned a pink and purple skirt at the Skins Game after being out-driven on a hole by LPGA Tour golfer Annika Sorenstam.

"I should have never put the skirt on," Funk said, acknowledging it may be what he's most well known for now.

"But when you get out-driven by a girl on national TV, you've got to do something."

Most of the talk between Funk and PGA Tour chaplain Larry Moody, who conducted a sort of question-and-answer format with the golfer, was light and fun. But Funk also talked seriously about his Christian faith.

He said he'd always been a believer in Jesus Christ, but spending time with devout Christians as a young golf pro made him commit more to hisfaith.

"They were the kind of people I wanted to be associated with," Funk said.

Even though he made that choice as a young man, the 51-year-old Funk said the journey never ends.

"I think you never stop learning," he said. "I think the minute you stop learning is the day you die. It's very humbling."

Even after turning 50 and qualifying for the Champions Tour, Funk still keeps up a schedule of more than 30 tournaments split between that and the PGA Tour each year.

"The old guys want you to go to the young tour and the young guys want you to go to the old tour," joked Moody, who married Funk and his wife.

The breakfast attracted more than 730 people, a record for the event, said Mike Brock, chairman of the committee that organized the breakfast.