A nifty 60: Taylor Funk goes low to qualify for PGA Tour Canada Fortinet Cup Championship
Taylor Funk needed a good day.
It turned out to be a spectacular one.
Funk, a member of the first state championship team at Ponte Vedra High School and the son of 2005 Players champion Fred Funk, tied the PGA Tour Canada season low with a 10-under-par 60 on Sunday at the Cragun’s Dutch Legacy Course in Brainerd, Minn., tying for sixth in the CRMC Championship.
Funk was outside the top-60 on the Fotinent Cup points list at No. 62 entering the tournament. He made the even-par cut on the number, shot 69 in the third round and then torched the course with 11 birdies in the final round to match a 60 shot by Stuart Macdonald earlier this season at the Windsor Championship.
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The PGA Tour Canada record is 58, shot in 2001 by Jason Bohn.
Repping the Jaguars
Funk also gave his usual apparel-related shoutout to his favorite football team, sporting the same Jaguars hat he wears in every competitive round.
With the finish, Funk jumped to 43rd on the points list to qualify for this week’s Fortinet Cup Championship, which begins on Thursday in Calgary. If he finishes among the top 25, he would be exempt into second-stage PGA Tour qualifying. He’s also mathematically alive to finish among the top five on the points list, which earns Korn Ferry Tour status.
“I knew I had to play well to get in [to Calgary],” Funk told pgatour.com. ”To go out and shoot 60 was just icing on the cake.”
Regardless of his finish in Calgary, Funk has secured a spot on PGA Tour Americas for 2024, which is a merger of PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica.
Funk blistered the front nine
Funk started his round with a birdie at No. 10 but then lost that stroke with a bogey on the next hole. After two pars he birdies three in a row and turned at 3-under for the day.
He then went into another zone on the front nine. Funk birdied seven of the nine holes for a 28 and made six consecutive 3s to start the side: four birdies on par-4 holes and pars on the two par-3s.
Funk birdied his last three, including the par-5 ninth. He needed an eagle to shoot 59 but pulled his drive into the left rough. He still managed to reach the green in two but two-putted, leaving his eagle and 59 attempt an inch off the left edge.
“I was probably a little more aggressive than I normally would have been, just knowing that 59 was on the table. I got a good read [from a playing partner] and hit a good putt.”
Funk has some experience going low at the Legacy Course. Last year he shot a back-nine 28 with five birdies and an eagle, posting a 62 in the first round.
Funk’s score is the second 60 by a family member. His father holds the Pablo Creek course record with a 60.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Taylor Funk posts a 60 to qualify for PGA Tour Canada Fortinet Cup
