Golf

Couples shows his former form

By BOB HARIG
Published June 7, 2005

We always will be left to wonder just how good Fred Couples could have been, just how many more tournaments he might have won.

In coming up one shot short at the Memorial Tournament, Couples, 45, again reminded us what once made him the No.1 player in the world. He has a smooth, effortless swing that still produces power. He hits crisp iron shots.

But the Memorial was Couples' first tournament since the Masters. A decade-old back problem keeps him from practicing often. He shows up at venues he likes, and Muirfield Village in Ohio seemed to spark the Couples of old rather than the old Couples.

Putting in so little time, however, often catches up to even the greatest players, and Couples was unable to overcome a few shaky putts and chips in the final round that cost him a victory.

"When you don't play much, your short game kills you," Couples said.

Couples' play at the Memorial made it hard to believe he has just three victories in the past nine years and only one since 1998. He has 15 PGA Tour titles and his lone major came at the 1992 Masters.

How many more could it have been? Couples had 10 PGA Tour titles and his Masters victory by early 1994, when he was leading at Doral heading into the final round. But Couples injured his back while warming up and had to withdraw. He was forced to miss three months that year due to a torn disc in his lower back.

Although Couples returned that season to win again, he hasn't been the same. Back problems often have forced him away. At the Masters, he started wearing a back brace.

Just four victories in 10 years does not seem right. And that was very apparent Sunday.

"I choose not to play a lot, but I still play golf," Couples said. "Maybe next year I'll have another shot at winning a tournament and it will be the Memorial. I don't have any shot at any other event, but I do like it here."

NO BART: Winning the Memorial saved Bart Bryant from having to qualify for next week's U.S. Open. Bryant was scheduled to be among the 50-some players competing today at Old Memorial in Tampa for three open spots in next week's field at Pinehurst in North Carolina. Because Bryant has two victories since last year's Open (he also won the Texas Open), he earned an exemption.

Bryant, the younger brother of Champions Tour player Brad Bryant , has been to the tour's qualifying tournament six times. He never had made as much money in any single season as he earned for his victory: $990,000.

ANNIKA WATCH: With her victory Sunday at the ShopRite Classic, Annika Sorenstam has won five of seven starts this year for a total of 61 career LPGA titles. She has not gone more than two tournaments without a victory since last August and she has 18 victories in her last 37 starts.

RECORD SETTER: Jimin Kang can say she has accomplished something that not even Sorenstam has done. Kang, 25, shot 8-under-par 27 on the back nine of the Bay Course at Seaview Marriott Resort & Spa, setting the nine-hole mark. She had six birdies and an eagle. It was the lowest nine-hole score since the tour was founded in 1950, breaking the record of 28 held by 10 players.

"All I know is that the putts just kept rolling in," Kang said. "All I could think of after the 18th was, "Oh, no, I'm out of holes!"' Kang finished with a 62 and she tied for sixth, a week after winning her first tournament at the Corning Classic.

RATTLED: CBS analysts said nothing about it, but there obviously was something wrong when David Toms three-putted the ninth green Sunday at the Memorial. Before tapping in his third putt, Toms glared into the gallery. After he knocked the putt in, the camera caught Toms looking back into the gallery, making as if he were scratching his nose - with his middle finger.

Toms later became agitated when questioned about what a reporter took as an obscene gesture. After he missed his second putt, Toms said, a Couples fan clapped and yelled, "Go, Freddy."

"Any time you miss a putt and somebody claps, that's uncalled for," Toms said. "They were obviously pulling for Freddy, and that's fine. Don't take it out on me. Pull for him - don't pull against me. I'm here supporting the tournament. I think that's pretty bush league, if you ask me."

AROUND GOLF: Tiger Woods tied for third at the Memorial. A third-place finish would have been enough to push him to No.1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, ahead of Vijay Singh , who missed the cut. ... Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez , often overlooked among Europe's best players, won the Wales Open on Sunday, his second victory of the year and sixth since the start of 2004. ... Seminole's Brittany Lincicome posted her career-best finish, a tie for 18th at the LPGA ShopRite Classic, shooting a final-round 69 to earn $16,376. She is now 75th on the money list with $49,430 and will play in this week's LPGA Championship.

Sources: Columbus Dispatch, PGA.com, LPGA.com.

[Last modified June 7, 2005, 02:15:48]