Let’s get this out of the way now.
He has tickets to the semifinals Saturday. He’s not sure if he can go. And he wants UConn to go all the way. His caddie Joe LaCava does too.
Yes, we’re talking Fred Couples. All-round sports fan. Former Shell Houston Open champ. Former Houston Cougar. And, no, he isn’t going to be able to make any of the Guy V. Lewis/Phi Slamma Jamma goings-on this week, even though he’d like to.
“If Guy Lewis was in the Final Four on Saturday would he be out here Saturday morning watching me play golf? I’m in the same boat,’’ Couples said. “ went to Houston, I love Houston, but got to play golf, and, I mean, there’s not enough time on my feet, you know, to do all that. I think they know. But, it’s a hard thing.’’
Yep, Couples is here to play golf. He won the Administaff Small Business Classic here last fall and now he’s back playing the SHO with the kids and getting ready for next week’s Masters. Two years ago, he tied for third here, then missed the cut at the Masters. Last year, he shared 55th here, then finished sixth in Augusta.
Rhyme? Reason? It always comes back to, well, his back. And it’s been worse than usual for the past five months.
“I’m excited to be here and there and then we’ll see what happens,’’ he said. “I think I’m going to take some times off after these two events. You know, I’m so stuff and tired right now that it’s – I don’t know. It’s been like this since October and it’s now – having a bad back is okay. Having pain and a bad back is like a double whammy.’’
Can’t shake it? “It ain’t going away,’’ he said, before shuffling off to tape a few commercials for the Administaff folks.
And, yes, he’s feeling every bit of his 51½ years.
“I’ve been out here since 1980,’’ he said. “It’s hard to believe, yeah, 30 years, you know. What I can’t believe is that I’m still playing. That’s what I can’t believe. Why, I’m not really sure. I love to be here, but, you know, this isn’t — this is an old man’s course. I played with Emmitt (Smith) and Sec (former Secretary of State and former Treasury Secretary James Baker) and Marvin (Odum) from Shell, so we had a great time, but I need to play like that tomorrow and get a little momentum going into Augusta.”
If not for Augusta next week and his ties to Houston – the city embraces him as one of its down — Couples might be teeing it up at the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic.
“To me obviously I just played at Newport Beach in the Champions Tour, and this golf course is probably ten times harder, but it’s all golf,’’ he said. “ You know, I mean, honestly if I wasn’t going to school here and didn’t play here every year, you know, there’s a tournament in Mississippi this week that I probably should be at, but going to school here and I love the tournament, there’s no way I was going to not come here, and it’s a better tune-up for Augusta. But, you know, I belong on the Champions Tour, but every now and then I come out and enjoy it.’’
With an eye on Final Four.
And a VCU-UConn final.
“After that, hope for a great game because I’ll be sitting with my feet up watching it Monday night,’’ he said. “Maybe a double overtime. You know, we’re rooting for UConn to go all the way.’– Melanie Hauser
Read More:
Tour Report: Couples playing in pain, picking UConn for title (PGATOUR.com)