FUNK'S SUCCESS DRIVEN BY ACCURACY.

Byline: DAVE SHELBURNE Golf

Fred Funk won another one for the masses last weekend, and some of those appreciating it most might be golf's teaching professionals.

One of the shortest, but straightest, hitters on the PGA Tour, the 49-year-old former University of Maryland golf coach hit every fairway and green in regulation and rode that accuracy to the second-biggest payday in the history of the Merrill Lynch Skins Game.

Playing as a Skins Game rookie in the annual four-player Thanksgiving Weekend invitational - which included six-time PGA Tour Player of the Year Tiger Woods, eight-time LPGA Tour Player of the Year Annika Sorenstam and five-time Skins Game champion Fred Couples - Funk won 15 of the 18 skins to earn a rookie-record $925,000.

Woods won the first three skins with a birdie on the third hole - which Funk finished wearing a pink-flowered skirt after losing a bet with Sorenstam, who outdrove him by seven yards on that hole.

``Obviously, I'm not a power hitter at all,'' said Funk, who ranks 197th in tour driving, with a 270-yard average. He had hoped only to avoid going skinless after getting his Skins Game invitation for winning the Players Championship, which many consider to be golf's unofficial fifth major.

``I guess the short message is distance doesn't really matter,'' said Dan Hernandez, former Valencia Country Club head professional and one of several area teaching pros happy to see that message demonstrated so vividly.

Hernandez believes driving distance might be slightly more important at the game's highest level, because of the increasing length of PGA Tour courses, or in some conditions for those at lower levels.

``If you're driving 200 yards and want to be competitive, you probably need to hit it farther,'' he said. ``But 260 is plenty of distance to play competitively.''

The trouble often comes when those already solid 260-yard hitters try to find an extra 10 yards, said Hernandez, who rates driving distance far back on his list of what's important for playing well - behind putting, short-game play near the green, play from inside 70 yards and accuracy off the tee.

``Accuracy first,'' he said. ``It's most definitely easier playing from the fairway.''

Amen to that, said Griffith Park head pro Tom Barber. He believes the growing emphasis on distance - reflected in 26 PGA Tour driving averages of 300 yards or more this year - hurts the scoring chances of many amateurs.

``It's fundamentally become a power game where all the emphasis is on how far people hit,'' Barber said. ``But scoring still boils down to who can pitch and chip and play bunkers and putt. A long putt will overcome a multitude of sins.''

In that regard, Barber and Hernandez both credit Funk as much for his willingness to play within himself as for his ability to hit fairways, which has earned him five of the past seven tour driving accuracy titles.

Roger Gunn, a former Southern California PGA instructor of the year, said the ability of touring pros can make reward worth the risk when it comes to driving for distance, which might leave an approach shot from the rough, but with a wedge.

Not so, he said, for most amateurs, whose bids for more length off the tee could leave them hitting mid-iron or longer approach shots from the rough.

``You can't drive it out of play and play this game well,'' said Gunn, who teaches at Tierra Rejada Golf Course in Moorpark. ``It's just as simple as that. It's like tennis - you've got to keep the ball in the court to play.''

--College-bound: Area high school seniors David Lipsky of La Canada and Alex Kang of Hart of Newhall have signed letters of intent to play for NCAA Division I golf programs - Lipsky at Northwestern and Kang at UCLA.

Lipsky, a two-time Rio Hondo League champion, had two top-five finishes in American Junior Golf Association events this year. Kang, ranked No. 9 nationally by AJGA, had four top-10 finishes in seven 2005 AJGA events, including a third in the Toyota/Honda Junior.

--It's good to be the pro: Westlake Village Golf Course instructor Joe Buttitta recorded his first hole-in-one in 30 years this month, acing the 174-yard, 13th hole at Westlake Village, and former La Canada Country Club head pro Ray Catan posted his ninth ace last week at age 83. Catan, who set a course record of 61 at La Canada (the record has since been lowered) got his most recent hole-in- one on the 96-yard 16th at Scholl Canyon Golf Course in Glendale.

--Names in the game: Mark Calcavecchia, Rory Sabbatini, John Daly, Tim Herron, Zach Johnson, Nick Price and Scott Verplank join Funk in the field for this week's Bard Capital Challenge Tour season event in Las Vegas. The Pro-Amateur event at TPC at The Canyons will be taped for a Dec. 15 telecast on The Golf Channel and re-airs Christmas Day.

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ON THE GREEN

BY DAVE SHELBURNE