Defending champ Fred Funk expects tougher test at Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico

From WorldGolf.com News Services

Defending champion Fred Frunk credits word of mouth for strengthening the field for the second annual Mayakoba Golf Classic in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

Funk won the inaugural event last year, defeating Jose Coceres in a playoff to become just the second player to win a PGA Tour event after recording a victory on the Champions Tour. Although most of the world's top golfers are in Arizona for the WGC Accenture Match Play Championships, this year's field is slightly beefed up and includes John Daly and Nick Price, as well as El Camaleon Golf Club course designer Greg Norman.

While first-year events are typically difficult to get off the ground because of all the unknowns, Funk said he figured the event would be a much easier sell to players in year two, especially once all the positive reviews starting coming in.

"There's not one negative thing you could say about it," Funk said told reporters. "The golf course is fantastic, which is the No. 1 selling point that the players want to know about. They want to know, what kind of golf course it is, and I thought it's a great Greg Norman design. He did a great job here."

Bubba Watson was among those who skipped last year's inaugural event, but decided to give it a go south of the border this year to the Riviera Maya region, located south of Cancun.

"The week after, my Ping rep told me, 'Bubba, you missed out on a great tournament. The hotel is unbelievable, the golf course is in great shape, everything about it is beautiful,'" Watson told reporters. "I had to have a week off last year and I just chose this one, but this year, I put it on the schedule and took another one off. I knew I was going to play in it as long as I wasn't in the match play."

Funk said the Norman-designed 6,923-yard, par-7o layout can be fairly demanding.

"As long as you're in the green, you're OK. If you're not in the green stuff, you're in serious trouble," Funk said. "The grass here with the Paspalum - a lot of people were asking about that - and very wonderful surface to play golf off of.

"The greens and the fairways and the tees are fantastic and you don't want to be in the rough. It gets a little tough in there, but that's the same in any tournament."

Funk said he welcomes the added competition for this year's event.

"You want to have the strongest players," Funk said. "You want to have as strong a field as possible. It just validates and makes you feel that much better when you win that you beat a better field."

He added that the lack of household names doesn't necessarily equate to a weak field.

"A lot of the guys that you don't know their names are really good players and you're going to know their names soon and they are here," Funk said. "It's just that you can't market those guys yet because no one really knows them."

Mayakoba Golf Classic

SCHEDULE: Thursday-Sunday
SITE: Playa del Carmen, Mexico
COURSE: El Camaleon Golf Club (6,923 yards, par 70)
PURSE: $3.5 million (winner's share: $630,000)
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday, 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. EST; Friday, 4-6 a.m., 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. EST; Saturday, 4-6 a.m., 8:30-10:30 p.m. EST; Sunday, 4-6 a.m., 6:30-9 p.m. EST; Monday, 1:30-3:30 a.m. EST)

February 21, 2008