NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Fred Couples is making it look easy.
Then again, many things connected with Couples and golf look easy.
The stroke is textbook perfect for the swing easy/hit hard crowd. The demeanor is simple and engaging with a hint of irreverance. He wins on the course (17 combined PGA and Champions Tour titles including a Masters) and in the cart (2009 U.S. Presidents Cup captain).
Couples is someone you want in your foursome.
“He is the kind of guy that every guy likes to hang out with just because he is such a normal kind of person, a guy’s kind of guy,” said Tom Lehman, who played with Couples in the final pairing Sunday and finished in a tie for third with Chien-Soon Lu.
So a four-stroke victory over three rounds at Newport Beach Country Club in the Toshiba Classic should come as no surprise.
And, it didn’t.
He came in as the favorite and left with the title and in between, he played like a man who is comfortable in his own visor.
Couples, who picked up a first-place check for $255,000, also was clear that he’s comfortable with his new surroundings.
“I’m a Champions Tour player,” Couples said following his 18-under par and winning total of 195. “I really am.”
The 50-year-old rookie is making the transition to the Champions Tour from the regular by the simple virtue of the calendar flipping from one date to the next, so far joining Corey Pavin this year in first seasons on the 50-and-older set. Both players will have some presence on the PGA Tour this season.
Pavin has played three times on the “junior” circuit while Couples has twice teed it up this year in a PGA Tour event. Couples has also demonstrated his skills might skew a bit younger as he joined fellow senior Tom Lehman with a T14 in Phoenix.
But Couples is, if not exactly immune to the siren song of the regular tour, able to exercise sobriety when assessing his playing future. Lehman has also played twice this season on the PGA Tour, but he played in 16 regular events in 2009 including half of those after joining the Champions Tour.
Fred Funk, who was level par at the Toshiba, joined the Champions Tour four years ago and continues to play a handful of tournaments on the younger tour.
Couples has no such illusion that he’s going to compete on a regular basis with players half his age.
He’ll play in Houston and the Masters the first two weeks of April before teeing it up at the Players in May. Outside of that, there is nothing on his playing schedule that does not include three rounds of playing with guys he’s known his whole career.
“I’m not one to say the golf ball doesn’t know how old I am. I think everyone knows how old we are,” said Couples, who leads the Champions money list and the points race to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup. “I’m going to be slowing down on the regular tour. Certainly, I have a few more left. But next year it will be even smaller. I enjoy this tour. I think it’s a fantastic tour.”
Eventually, it will likely be just the Masters. As a past champion, Couples has a lifetime exemption.
Contending for his time will be his body, though, because Couples’ schedule will be determined largely by how he feels.
An aching back has reduced the number of events Couples has played in recent years and sent him to a specialist following his victory at the Toshiba. He’s already played three times plus the senior skins on the Champions Tour this year, winning twice, and could play as many as 18 tournaments in 2010. Up next will be the Cup Cana Championship at the end of March.
That’s just about his limit.
Couples felt a made putt or two in Phoenix at the Waste Management tournament might have put him in the top five. But it’s putting that causes him the most problems and Couples has gone to a belly putter to alleviate that pain. It’s just a matter of time, though. The pain will be there as it has been for years.
“I will tell you when I played last week, on Sunday my back was killing me, and it was really hard to bend over and putt. That’s when the most pain was. I didn’t putt very well,” Couples said. “But I did putt the first three rounds there like I’ve been on the Champions Tour. That’s a huge key. I feel better on this Tour.”
Working in Couples’ favor on the Champions Tour are the fact most events are three rounds and there are no cuts. A few missed putts can still be excised with a hot round like Tom Watson’s closing 62.
Watson is also someone who proved that the seniors can still play with the younger set by nearly capturing last summer’s British Open.
So Couples has found his season of content and will gladly toil with the bland diet crowd, but hasn’t lost hope that magic awaits.
“I am definitely looking forward to competing at Augusta,” Couples said of his chances. “I really think that I can.”
Ah, youth.
Mike Scarr is the editor of Golflink.com. He can be reached at golflinkeditor@demandmedia.com.
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