Fred Couples final week on the Hoag Classic.
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Fred Couples is in good spirits. He’s again in Rancho Mirage, California, the place he as soon as lived, and he’s enjoying Mission HIlls, the place he as soon as had a daily recreation. The course is “mint,” he says, prematurely of this week’s Galleri Classic on the PGA Tour Champions circuit.
Then there’s school basketball. Couples’ Houston bunch plays Duke on Friday evening within the males’s Sweet 16, and a one-time roommate has been texting. The Cougars are enjoying in Dallas, he’s writing. We. Should. Go.
Couples, although, tells Jim Nantz to relax. He’s enjoying golf.
“I’m like, I’ve got a golf tournament, Jimmy,” Couples mentioned. “I can’t simply go someplace to look at the Cougs play.
“We’re working on it. They’ve got to beat Duke and then we’ll worry about maybe Sunday.”
But if the ’92 Masters winner is really being sincere, the most effective a part of this week is that the final one is completed, although it was possibly greater than the truth that he was hurting and needed to withdraw from the Champions’ Hoag Classic after simply 27 holes. It was how. Yes, he’s been combating again points for years. But final week, for instance, his fellow execs had been hitting mid-irons — and Couples was hitting lengthy ones. He mentioned he was dinking round. Saturday, he mentioned he couldn’t swing in any respect and punted.
“It was just a waste of time,” he mentioned.
But it additionally acquired the 64-year-old ruminating. Reflecting.
Is this it?
On Thursday, seconds right into a pre-Galleri press convention, he talked of being outdated. Twice he mentioned he hoped to play within the occasion for a few extra years. So he’s sounding like he’s contemplating retirement, and considerably soonish. Thing is, although, you’ve most likely heard this earlier than.
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Remember two years in the past, at an occasion in Madison, Wisconsin? Couples was contemplative then too. Said he wished to win yet one more time. That was additionally very finish-line-sounding, after which it rapidly turned definitive. A reporter began an trade by saying: “And when you win again, whether that … ” — and Couples responded like this:
“… I’ll be gone,” Couples mentioned.
“Really? Out the door?”
“Yes,” Couples mentioned. “So hopefully Sunday night, I will be gone.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Cold turkey?”
“A pretty simple thing,” Couples mentioned. “That’s why I keep choking on all these five-shot leads. I had a five-shot lead in Seattle a few years ago and I wouldn’t have won anyway, but Brandt Jobe shot, I think, 63. But, yeah, I’m done.”
“When you do win, wouldn’t you want to play one more?”
“No,” Couples mentioned.
“No?”
“No.”
And then sure. Four quick months later, Couples gained. Made a ridiculous 12 birdies in his remaining spherical. But, as you’ll be able to see, he didn’t cease. Last yr, he turned the oldest participant ever to make the lower on the Masters. And right here we’re. And possibly, you, the Couples optimist, believes his easy transfer to the ball cannot solely obliterate golf balls, however also can inform Father Time to take a hike.
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Well, possibly not fairly.
But Couples isn’t completed, both.
In what we’ll label his newest retirement update, Couples mentioned he has a plan. He’ll play the favorites. He’ll prepared himself correctly, like he has this week.
But there gained’t be extra weeks just like the final one. No method.
Thursday, a reporter picked up on Couples saying he wished to play a pair extra years. He had requested if that meant a few extra years full time — after which Couples jumped in.
“Well, you’re on the ball,” he mentioned.
“I’ve some hand-picked ones. I’ll play in Newport as a result of I can get round there, I’ll play right here, I would go as much as Pebble and play. But I’m not going to journey round and play — I’ve really felt OK in Hawaii and in Naples, however I simply, I can’t — I’m so afraid to harm myself by working towards for a pair hours and I don’t really feel nicely.
“When I used to be 35, it took me a very long time to determine: OK, what do I’ve to take action after I’m 36 that I can get by way of these 18 tournaments? Now that I’m 64, my aim is to not come play a golf match and really feel unhealthy and end forty fifth. That’s not a lot enjoyable. I’m not saying there’s something incorrect with it, however I’m previous that.
“So I’ll play a handful of tournaments and play with my buddies and enjoy golf.”
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