Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Scheduling allows Couples to add Allianz
BOCA RATON — Fred Couples started playing the PGA Tour Champions in 2010. He is finally playing in his first Allianz Championship when the 54-hole tournament begins today at the Old Course at Broken Sound.
One reason the popular 57-year-old waited so long was the L.A. Open at Riviera Country Club, now called the Genesis Open, was right after the Allianz and the Chubb Classic, which is next week in Naples.
“I skipped it because I always tried to play Naples and then go to the L.A. Open, which I played 35 out of 36 years, and I’ll probably never go again,” said Couples, who flew into Miami on Wednesday.
“So hopefully I’ll come here for a couple of years, but that’s why I skipped here. Naples went against the LA Open [this year]. So I was coming here to play no matter what.”
Couples drew a large gallery in Thursday afternoon’s Pro-Am. It was the first time he played the course.
“My caddie’s walked the course, so he knows it, and I’ve seen it on TV,” he said. “I know it’s a real nice golf course, and I know there are some quality shots you have to hit so that’s what I’ll pay attention to.”
A bad back has troubled Couples throughout his career, and it was really painful last year, although he said it’s “doing well at the moment.”
He won 11 Champions tournaments his first five years on the senior tour. After playing in 75 events through 2015, he played in only three Champions tournaments last year, one of them the Chubb Classic, and only the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust Open at Riviera. He had hoped to play in the Masters, which he won in 1992.
“I hurt it in February so I tried everything I could to play Augusta,” he said. “And after I didn’t play there … I just stayed away. Then I played one tournament at the end of the year [in October] just to see if I could do it, and then I didn’t play for almost another two months.
“So I don’t know how I’ll feel next week in Naples, but if I just take my time and don’t hurt myself, then I should be able to swing. Everyone’s got something, so it doesn’t bother me anymore. If I played Naples and my back went out, it’s part of the deal. But I’m not going to do this very much longer, that’s for sure.”
Couples said the state of his game isn’t bad. He opened the Champions season three weeks ago with a second-place finish behind Bernhard Langer.
“I shocked them in Hawaii, and I actually practiced a little last week, so I feel OK,” Couples said. “I chipped and putted well in Hawaii, and that’s why I played well. I played five times in 15 months, but I know I can hit it. I can get it around the course.”
The doctors finally decided to inject him with a medicine that made him feel better and allowed him to start hitting little sand wedges last June and eventually play 18 holes.
Being able to play in a tournament again means a lot to him, especially considering that he couldn’t walk a year ago.
“The last couple of weeks, even though I didn’t play well, I realized how lucky I was to be on the golf course again,” Olazabal said. “I really enjoyed the company of the players, the scenery of the golf course, the blue skies. You tend to notice more of those things when you go through a time like I went through.”