Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 26, 1992 TAG: 9203260174
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: JAIME DIAZ THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: PONTE VEDRA, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
No. 1 in the world.
At age 32, melding his extraordinary physical gifts with the bitter fruit of some hard losses, Couples has become by computer and consensus the top player in the game.
In the past nine months, he has put together the best sustained run the PGA Tour has seen in more than a decade. Better than the hot streaks of Tom Kite in 1981, Mark O'Meara in 1984 and Greg Norman in 1986 and 1990. Better than anyone since Tom Watson in his prime.
Couples has come to the Players Championship, which begins today, fresh off the most impressive victory of his career, a wire-to-wire, nine-shot blowout at the Nestle Invitational.
If he can sustain his level long enough to win the Masters in two weeks, Couples could launch himself into becoming what golf has long been waiting for: the next dominant player.
In the short term, of course, Couples has been precisely that. Since finishing tied for third at the U.S. Open last June, Couples has been sixth or better in 19 of 23 tournaments. He has won five of them, including the elite Johnny Walker World Championship, and he was America's best player in the Ryder Cup.
Most impressively, Couples is on an upward curve. In eight PGA Tour appearances this season, Couples has won $704,412, well ahead of pace to surpass Tom Kite's season record of $1,395,278.
Besides victories at Los Angeles and Bay Hill, Couples has lost in a playoff, been second by two shots, and third and sixth where he missed playoffs by one shot.
In the Sony Ranking, the only sanctioned statistical performance measure of the game's best players, Couples leaped from fifth to first by winning at Bay Hill, passing Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros.
Couples is the first American to achieve the No. 1 ranking since the worldwide system was started in 1985.
"Fred is on the proverbial roll," said Watson, who in 1980 set the standard for modern domination with six tournament victories and at the time an astounding $530,808 in prize money.
"People say no one will ever dominate the game again, but Fred is doing an awfully good job of that right now."
Besides impressing nearly all of his peers, Couples's play also has been noticed by the father of all hot streaks, Byron Nelson.
"There's no telling what Fred will accomplish this year, except to say that I think he has the talent to keep it up," said the 80-year-old Nelson, who won 11 consecutive tournaments in 1945 and finished that year with 18 victories.
"He's going through a strenuous time because there's a lot of pressure behind it, but it's fun. You don't have any thoughts but to go up and hit a good shot, and of course, when that's all you're thinking, that's all you do."
With so much validation, the case of crowning the best player in the world would seem closed. Except that Couples doesn't feel worthy of the throne.
"I don't think I should be No. 1," Couples said. "You have to do more than I've done. I'm a mile from being a dominant player. There are 30 guys who are just as good."
Factoring in that Couples habitually overstates the abilities of others while understating his own, he still has an arguable point. Bay Hill was only the eighth victory in a 12-year career plagued by periods of inconsistency and indifference.
Couples never has won a major championship, though he has come close enough to blow them. His rash of missed short putts when he had the lead going into the closing holes of the 1990 PGA Championship lingers in the memory.
Throughout his career, he has lost chances to win a half a dozen tournaments down the stretch. This year, a missed three-foot par putt on the 89th hole kept him out of a playoff at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, a badly pushed tee shot on the 72nd at Doral gave victory to Raymond Floyd, and two pulled balls in the water on the closing nine cost him the Honda.
When asked recently if he considers himself one of the top 10 pressure players on tour, Couples answered, "Not even close."
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by CNB