Australian Senior Golfer

FRED COUPLES put on a master class at the US Champions Tour 2011 AT&T Championship to street the field by seven strokes on the TPC San Antonio Canyons Course in Texas.

Couples followed up his opening rounds of 65 and a course record 62 with a bogey-free 6-under 66 to finish at a total of 23-under – the largest winning margin on the tour this year.

It was his 6th win in two seasons on the over 50’s circuit and his second since undergoing what has been termed “non-traditional” treatments on his back in Germany earlier in the year.

Couples has suffered from nagging back issues for years and the German treatments have allowed him to come back and play an unprecedented (in recent times) three tournaments in a row and to do some extensive work on his game.

“I haven’t had a seven-shot lead since ’92 or ’90 or whenever the heck it was,” Couples said.

“I probably may never ever get another one. It’s a weird feeling, and I was kind of unnerved (on the front side). But once we got to the back nine I played much better and I pulled away to a lead that was plenty.”

Mark Calcavecchia shot a 66 to finish second while Charles Schwab Cup points leader Tom Lehman and John Cook tied for third at 14 under after closing with 66s.

Peter Senior fifth and still has Charles Schwab Cup hopes

Australia’s Peter Senior had yet another top 10 finish to retain his third spot on the season long points table.

Senior had a bogey-free, 13-birdie tournament and carded rounds of 69, 67 and 67 to finish alone in fifth spot on 13-under.

The 51 year old has had an ultra consistent year with three runners-up finishes, one third placing and 12 top tens.

What he hasn’t had is a win and that is probably what he will need to take the Cup when the top 30 on the tour battle it out in the final event for the year in two weeks time.

That event is the 2011 Charles Schwab Cup Championship which will take place at the TPC Harding Park Golf Club in San Francisco with a prize purse of US$2,500,000.

PETER SENIOR goes into the 2011 Boeing Classic at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge in Washington State this weekend still searching for his elusive maiden US Champions Tour victory.

As noted on the US PGA Tour website this week, Senior has been playing “wonderful golf” this year.

“It seems like every week he’s in with a chance to win,” the website said, highlighting the fact that the 52 year old Australian is the only player on the tour to have been in the top 10 in the four US senior majors this year.

In his second year on the tour , Senior lost the Regions Tradition in a playoff to Tom Lehman and missed by one shot of joining the Fred Couples-John Cook playoff at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship last week.

Senior admitted the frustration is getting to him.

“Becoming the same thing every week, isn’t it?” he said. “I just don’t seem to produce anything on Sunday. [It’s] just starting to really bug me.”

As noted, all that has separated him from the winner’s circle is a timely putt or two.

“But I seem to do it a lot on Sundays,” he said. “I just don’t make many putts on Sunday.”

“I’m really happy with the golf I’ve been playing. I’d just like to hoist something. It’s been nearly two years, and I’ve had plenty of opportunity and haven’t closed one out yet. So yeah, I just feel a little disappointed. Hopefully it’ll happen soon.”

There will be plenty of quality golfers happy to stand in his way this weekend, beginning with last week’s Senior Players Champion Fred Couples, playing in what for him is a home town tournament.

“I’m always excited to come back, as I’ve said a million times,” Couples said. There haven’t been a whole lot of tournaments in Seattle, and it’s just very nice to be up here.”

The 2011 Boeing Classic is being telecast in Australia on Fox Sports at a much more user friendly time than has been lately the case for the Champions Tour.

1st Round Live Saturday 8.30am to 10.30am; 2nd Round Sunday 8.30 am to 11am; Monday 12.30 pm to 2pm.

Peter Senior goes so very close again on the US Champions Tour

PETER SENIOR has missed the playoff for the year’s final US Champions Tour major by a stroke.

A bogey on the 15th left him one short of American duo Fred Couples and John Cook who finished the 2011 Senior Players Championship tied on 11-under.

Couples knocked in a three foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to take his first senior major.

With two birdies and two bogies in his even par final round, Senior finished alone in third spot.

The 52 year old Queenslander continued his great run this year and was never far off the pace at the  Westchester Country Club’s West Course in Harrison, New York, opening with a 5-under round of 66 and following that with rounds of 69, 68 and 71.

The win pushed his winnings on the Champions Tour this year over the million dollar mark (US$1,004,229) and he is now seventh on the money list.  Senior has finished in the top six in four of the five senior majors this year.

Couples was fresh from some type of alternative procedure on his notoriously temperamental back in Germany but still wasn’t entirely comfortable on the course.

The 1992 Masters champion won four times on the over 50’s tour last year but has been absent for much of 2011 and this was his first win this year.

He had to battle s stiff wind and a sore left hip that began giving him trouble during a nearly two-hour rain delay.

“I wouldn’t say I was playing awesome golf before the rain delay but it wasn’t bad,” Couples said. “After the rain delay, I just didn’t feel very good. I hit some good drives but I was not all that great.”

Couples joined Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd as the only players to win both The Players Championship on the regular tour and the Senior Players and thus earned a spot in The Players next year.

“That’s great,” Couples said. “I get to play with the studs, so that’ll be fun.”

Cook (70) held a share of the lead for nine holes but bogeyed No. 16 and missed birdie putts on the final two holes, forcing the second straight playoff and fourth overall in the event.

Tom Lehman (68) was fourth at 9 under, a stroke ahead of 2010 winner Mark O’Meara (69), with first-round leader Jeff Sluamn (70) slipping into a five-way tie for sixth.

SOME humble Aussie black ants earned the ire of visiting American golfing icon Fred Couples at the Australian Open today but local rules officials refused his plea for protection.

Couples asked for relief when his stance inside a bunker on his second last hole was crawling with ants.

An Australian rules official refused his request for a drop from what was a very poor lie on the lip of the bunker.

The US Masters winner said words to the effect of: “You’re kidding me. You expect me to stand in that.”

Couples called over playing partner Stuart Appleby for a second opinion (pictured left), and after whatever conversation ensued there, eventually had to play the ball as it lay.

His other playing partner and opposing Presidents Cup captain, Greg Norman, was on the other side of the fairway having his own problems with one of the courses many waterways.

The problem seems to have been one of an ant misidentification. In the US and elsewhere the presence of fire ants, much nastier creatures than the little Australian black ants, does often warrant relief being given.

A Queensland rules official said her state also had some likely candidates, big bush bull ants, that might also warrant relief, but the little black ants were never going to be a threat.

With practice severely limited by two days of heavy rain, Couples had been struggling somewhat on a totally revamped Lakes course and perhaps was hoping for a bit of a break.

Still, he managed to finish on even par and will start the second round at 12.10 on Friday afternoon at least having a little more familiarity with the course.

Norman started with a bang, playing his front nine in two under but dropped five shots on the last five holes to finish with a two over 74.

The tournament leader is Matthew Griffin, who finished with a 7 under 65.

Queenslander John Senden birdied the final hole to finish outright second on 6 under with Alistair Presnell a stroke away third.

Peter Senior had an inspiring round finishing at 4 under, tied with eight others including Stuart Appleby and Geoff Ogilvy, who stormed home with an eagle-birdie finish.

Defending champion Adam Scott was displaying his usual superb ball striking but frustratingly was again let down by his short putting. If he can just get his putting confidence back there is no doubt he will again be in contention, despite finishing the day with a 3 over 75.

Big John Daly is also in contention after opening with a 69 that included six birdies and three bogeys.

2010 Australian Open Live Leaderboard

THE countdown to the 2011 Presidents Cup has begun with team leaders Greg Norman and Fred Couples hosting a Captain’s Day at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Monday.

International captain Norman and US captain Couples faced off at a media conference and displayed a passionate rivalry than is underlined by a personal friendship and respect.

Their personal rivalry spans the decades as individual players, as Presidents Cup representatives in 1998 and culminated last year when they opposed each other as team captains for the first time.

The 1998 match was played at Royal Melbourne and was the only time the Internationals have managed an outright victory in the nine stagings of the event.

After losing to the Americans at Harding Park in San Francisco last year, Norman believes the Melbourne venue will be the International team’s  best chance of repeating a victory, but he was wary of facing a US team burnt by a recent loss in the Ryder Cup.

“I think it’s a little bit more difficult for us going into 2011 now that America got their butts kicked in the Ryder Cup because they won’t want to go two losses,” Norman said.

“So I know Freddie doesn’t want to do that; the players definitely don’t want to do that for sure. If I was a player on the team, I wouldn’t want to say I lost the Ryder Cup and I lost The Presidents Cup.

The 2011 Presidents Cup will see 24 of the world’s best golfers lead by two of golf’s iconic characters.

Winning the cup means a lot to the captains and their teams and that fierce competitiveness was on display on Monday.

But there was also the friendship.

Asked by a television report about his recent third marriage, to Kirsten Kutner, Norman happily replied: “No dramas … very peaceful and quiet” and explained his new bride and her sister would be in Sydney for the Australian Open.

After a brief pause Couples was confident enough to quip: “How old is her sister? Is she married?”

The comment brought the house down and a laughing Norman replied: “We’ll talk about that later.”

Earlier, selected members of the media had been invited to play the famous Royal Melbourne championship composite course.

For some, it was the culmination of boyhood dreams and for all a great insight into the kinds of conditions some very famous feet will find in November next year.

Along with a reorganisation of the holes that make up the composite course from Royal Melbourne’s East and West Courses, the entire layout has new turf from tee to green after a lack of water and other issues.

Couples commented that whatever changes had been made, Royal Melbourne was still one of the world’s greatest golf courses.

“This is a world class course. It’s in the top three of my all time favorites with St. Andrews and Augusta,” he said.

On a personally  note, being given the opportunity to play the course was a rare treat, particularly alongside someone like Alan Evans, a member of Royal Melbourne for 25 years and a current member of the club’s governing council.

Alan, a 3 handicapper who is also a regular on the Australian Senior Amateur tour, has an intimate knowledge of the course and believes the venue as it will be presented next year will strongly favour the International team and not the Americans with their mostly high trajectory ball play.

Players bombing drives into the rough will often find it extremely difficult to get, particularly with any real control, and when they do there will be no soft landing spots on the lightening fast greens.

When a strong wind got up mid-morning the bite this course can offer the combatants of next November was more than evident.

Full Media Conference Transcript

AUSTRALIAN OPEN bound Fred Couples has shown some serious form with a tear-away win in the lastest US Champions Tour event.

Couples was two strokes behind US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin after 10 holes in the final round of the Administaff Small Business Classic in Texas and then scorched the final eight holes in seven under.

He made and eagle – his second of the round – and five birdies to finish seven strokes clear of the field.

“I don’t know if I putted like that on the PGA Tour, ever,” Couples said of his 24 putt round. “I used to putt well and once you hit your mid-40s, every putt is important.”

Couples, who will be one of the star attractions when the Australian Open gets underway at The Lakes in Sydney in just over five weeks, finished at 17-under 199 on The Woodlands Country Club course and earned US$255,000 for his fourth Champions Tour victory of the year.

Mark Wiebe (71) was second, Dan Forsman (66) and Brad Bryant (66) followed at 9 under, and Pavin (74) and John Cook (67) tied for fifth at 8 under.

“I feel like I got lapped,” second placed Wiebe retorted. “If this was a car race, I feel Fred would have had two laps on me.”

Couples was in his usual laid back form: “”I hit the ball very, very well, and I made a lot of putts, and all that stuff added up to 63,” he said shaking his head. “It was not you know, there wasn’t a lot of stress, you know.”

Fourteen times US PGA Tour winner Kenny Perry got a rude shock at his first outing on the over 50’s circuit closing with a 70 to finish tied for 35th.

Australia’s Peter Senior put together three solid rounds of 72, 71, 72 to finish at one under for the tournament and T24.

At 17th on the money list, Senior has already secured his place on the tour for next year.

The Champions Tour moves to San Antonio this week for the AT&T Championship.

FRED COUPLES has confirmed as a starter for the 2010 Australian Open to be played at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.

The popular American will add a huge amount of interest to the tournament and will join John Daly, Greg Norman, Geoff Ogilvy and defending champion Adam Scott in what is shaping as a stellar field.

Let’s hope the 50 year old actually makes it this year after pulling out last year because of a back problem.

Couples is currently enjoying an outstanding maiden season on the US Champions Tour and will help draw the crowds when the championship tees-off at The Lakes from December 2 to 5.

The former US Masters champion will be vying for prize money totalling $1.5 million and for the second successive season the open will be the penultimate leg on the new OneAsia Tour.

Announcing the signing today, NSW Minister for Major Events Kevin Greene said Sydney is synonymous with the Australian Open, a flagship event of our great sporting nation, first played in Sydney in 1904.

“To have one of golf’s most respected players Fred Couples playing this year is an honour for Sydney and this historic tournament.

“Together with Golf Australia we have a vision to transform the Australian Open into the pre-eminent golf tournament on OneAsia ,” Minister Greene said.

Said Couples: “I am very much looking forward to playing in the Australian Open in particular The Lakes Golf Club. I have not been to Sydney for some time and look forward to visiting this magnificent city once again.”

Known the world over as “Boom boom” because of the huge drives he hits with his effortless and much admired swing, Couples will be competing against his 2009 Presidents Cup captain rival – Greg Norman.

Tickets for the Australian Open go on sale from today and can be purchased through Ticketek by phoning 13 28 49.

WITH Fred Couples ripping up the Champions Tour and proving how good the form was by leading the US Masters after the first round it is a good time to have a look at some analysis of his swing.

The Couples swing is often described as “like butter”, “silky smooth” and the like– all the things you would just love to have your swing compared to.

This video is a detailed analysis by top US coach and sometime Couples contemporary Wayne Defrancesco, who points out that while Couples has some unorthodox moves he is “a freak” with outstanding rhythm.

“Everybody would love to be able to just stand up to the ball, get the club what appears to be completely out of whack and then just flush it down the fairway,” Defrancesco says.

As he says, “Everyone would love to be Freddie”.

FRED COUPLES is having a field day on the US Champions Tour with his third straight win in his rookie season.

The 50 year old set a course record 10 under par 62 to win the Cap Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic.

His total 21 under two stroke win made him the first player in Champions Tour history to win three of his first four tournaments.

In four three round senior tournaments Couples hasn’t had a score higher than 68 and is 77 under par.

Couples is the eighth Champions Tour player to win three straight starts, leaving him one behind the tour record set by Chi Chi Rodriguez in 1987.

He has also pocketed $1,027,821 for his trouble – and some of the older guys reckon the Champions Tour is a licence to print money.

Couples made 11 birdies in the final round, finishing with a total of 195. “It was an unbelievable day,” said Couples, who made five birdies in a row from the second through sixth hole.

“The first six or seven holes, there was an eagle, birdies and putts going in from everywhere, ” he said, including the work of second placegetter Corey Pavin.

The string of wins had Couples looking back to the early 1990’s – and probably to Augusta in two weeks time, when the strength of his good form will be put to the ultimate test.

“I had a great stretch of golf in 1992,” he said, referring to a two month period when he won three tournaments including the Masters. “But I must say that these four weeks on the Champions Tour I’m not missing many shots.”

Peter Senior doing nicely

Not quite reaching Couples’ heights but still trotting along nicely in his rookie Champions Tour season is Australian Peter Senior, who had his fourth straight top 30 finish.

After an opening 74 Senior posted improved rounds of 68 and 69 to finish at T23.

With AUD $102,287 in Champions Tour winnings, Senior is 27th on the Money List.