Fred Funk is playing in his first event as a senior after turning 50 recently. Funk, who will play on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tours over the next year or so, is trying to join 11 other players who have won their first senior event in the first crack. This week Funk shares his thoughts with www.ussenioropen.com.

I was pretty low yesterday.  I can't imagine -- I'm sure I've been lower at times out here but that was more of total frustration than being low, not knowing.  I've had points in my game when nothing's working.  At least I had the ball-striking working and it was just making me more upset because I felt like I was playing good enough to do something positive.  I shouldn't have been 4 over par.  So it was more of a frustration low than it was just a total everything low.  ‘Why am I doing this, what are you doing?'  So it was a little different.

After my round yesterday I just went back to the hotel and I was going to eat with my family.  I said let's go eat and I assumed they were going to be really hungry.  I was starving.  And so we went to lunch and had a little bite to eat and just kind of relaxed knowing I was going to come out hear and practice.  Sharon, my wife, wanted to come out and work with me and it was actually good because I've been telling her how frustrating it was and how I've been trying everything and nothing's working.  And then she was out here telling me to try this and try that and nothing was working.  And I went, ‘See!  I was telling you,' and now I was proving it to her that nothing's working.  I think in that way it was a little bit of a lift for me to show her that, ‘Hey, I'm not barking up a tree telling you I'm not trying.  I've been trying my rear end off and I just can't quite get it.' Whether it's in my head or mechanically or whatever it is. 

I spent maybe two hours or more on the putting green yesterday trying to find it and talking as well to Gary Player.  That was good to spend time with Gary.  He's so positive all the time.  It's hard to not get adrenaline flowing with him.

After spending two hours on the putting green working with Sharon and talking to Gary, I went with my 10-year old son Tyler over to the chipping green. My chipping wasn't very good either.  It was funny, I was over there and had these 6-footers going around the hole on the chipping green and I made like 48 out of 50.  Didn't matter where I was.  So then my son wanted to go five holes and I putted the first one over the green, the second one off the green and I just couldn't transfer it over when I was actually trying to do something.  My son killed me in a five-hole match, beat me 2 up.  So we went again and he beat me again and I said, ‘Well, the hell with this.'  So that's when we left.  ‘I can't beat my 10-year-old son' was the last thought I had when I left the golf course on Friday.

We went straight to a Mexican place, had dinner and then I just went back and fell asleep.  Kind of early.  But I woke up about three in the morning and I couldn't sleep at all.  And I just kind of contemplated stuff and then I finally got tired enough and fell back to sleep about 4:30 – 5.

During the down time I realized I was trying so hard to make a statement like everybody was telling me I should, and it's not the kind of game that you can do that.  Not very many guys can just flip a switch and all of a sudden - only Tiger can do it some of the time.

I kind of compare the early week a little bit but not quite to the level of the Skins match last year.  I was out of my element there.  I'm with Freddie [Couples], Annika [Sorenstam] and Tiger and I was like, ‘What am I doing here?'  And it wasn't a comfortable feeling.  Being in that environment.  And being in an environment where this week I was told I was supposed to win or should win and should be contending if nothing else, definitely contending and here I wasn't doing it.  So I wasn't living up to anybody's expectations, mine or anyone else's.  So it got really disappointing and it was all self-imposed pressure.  Didn't really enjoy it.

So I got to the golf course and I was stroking the ball pretty well at first with what I did last night using a conventional stroke.  ‘Relax, lighten up on the hand and just be real relaxed with it.'  I putted the shorts ones fine, but then I went to putt a couple longer ones and my speed was just across the board.  I would leave it 3 feet short, 6 feet by.  I thought, ‘This is ridiculous.' So I used the claw grip and all of a sudden it didn't feel like I was hitting it as solid but my speed was better.  So I had to go with that; I got to at least get the speed halfway down so I'm not working quite as hard.  So that's what really made the decision for me.  Had nothing to do with making the short ones or making them period, it was just speed.

I made a couple nice putts early and just felt more comfortable over it.  So it was a good solid round with a couple really good saves coming down the back nine.  When we turned into the wind it got a little tricky and it felt good.

Now there is tomorrow.  I'm not all the way back. I will try not to let myself get in my own way as I did those first two days, but it was building all week and it was building even coming in to this tournament because I've haven't been scoring as well as I should have.  It's just the nature of the game.  And I realize that.  It's just this week I had a little more outside influences than normal. I really shouldn't have let it get to me.