Couch's comeback helped by lucky bounce(s) at Bay Hill

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Chris Couch tied for fourth at the 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

The shot, like most of Chris Couch's pro career, was on the rocks.

Not once, not twice, but three times.

By now, every golf fan has seen the replay. How Couch's wayward approach to Bay Hill's 18th hole in Saturday's third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational struck a large rock short of the green and bounced straight into the air. Then it bounced crazily to the left, striking another boulder that sent the ball ricocheting again to the left, the ball amazingly, miraculously rolling onto a green for a two-putt par instead of a likely double bogey.

That bit of good fortune meant more than a nicer payday for Couch. It meant his livelihood.

"I've never considered myself a very lucky person on the golf course, but that was a great break at the right time," Couch said. "Most of the time that will happen when you're like four-over par, (so) it doesn't even matter. But I was in a good position there and didn't need to take worse than a par on that hole, especially making double or worse if that goes in the water. So great break."

Couch could use one.

And he took advantage of the good fortune, finishing with a birdie, a bogey and two pars during Monday's completion of the fourth round to finish in a two-way tie for fourth place. That earned him $264,000, moving him ever closer to keeping his card while he's playing on a major medical exemption.

His career has been littered by false starts -- beginning when he qualified for the 1990 Honda Classic when he was 16 -- unfulfilled expectations and, lately, injuries.

Just look at his highs and lows during the last seven years: In 2003, Couch had to borrow $3,000 from Nationwide Tour pro Deane Pappas just to keep his career going. By the end of the year, he had no problem paying that loan back, winning twice and finishing fourth on the Nationwide Tour's money list.

Finally, Couch's career was about to take off.

Or maybe not. He made just four cuts on the PGA TOUR in 2004 and had to return to the Nationwide Tour to get back on the PGA TOUR in 2006.

Couch's world seemed to turn at the 2006 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, when after barely making the cut, he closed with rounds of 64 and 65 to win his first PGA TOUR title. Fittingly, it didn't come easy -- he had to chip in for par from 54 feet on the 72 nd hole to clinch the victory.

Again, Couch seemed to finally have made it, right?

Not yet. He suffered a serious shoulder injury late in 2007 that sidelined him for all of 2008 and most of 2009.

"I've been hurt for two years and sitting on the couch, matching my name," Couch said.

That's OK, if your name is Vijay, which stands for "victory" in Hindu; not so OK when your surname is a piece of furniture.

Couch, 36, is playing this year on a major medical exemption that gives him 21 tournaments to earn $796,087 to keep his all-exempt status. That's why Saturday's lucky bounce(s) on the 54 th hole was so critical.

When he showed up at Bay Hill, he had 14 events left to earn $483,390, thanks to the $248,000 he pocketed for finishing T4 at Phoenix . By matching that finish Monday -- which likely wouldn't have happened had the ball bounced into the lake, as it probably should have -- he now needs to earn a more manageable $227,390 in his next 13 starts to maintain his full-exempt status.

"It's tough not to think about it," he says of his clock-is-ticking situation. "But my coach tries to keep it in perspective. He says, 'Every tournament is a different tournament. You take one tournament at a time and you can't think down the road.' He's hit the nail right on the head. You can't sit there and think, 'Oh, I only have 14 tournaments left and I have to make such and such amount.' "

He takes nothing for granted. Not when you consider he now has just five top-10 finishes in 129 career PGA TOUR starts

Couch used to write B-A-T-L on his golf ball, which stood for "be afraid to lose." Now he has a cross on his ball, and a resilient approach that prompted him to write 18 letters to get a sponsor exemption into the Arnold Palmer Invitational without ever receiving one.

"I think I'm going right along with God's plan," Couch said. "I'm going to keep traveling down that road and see what happens. I think that struggling for years made me a better person and a better player eventually. I hope to bring that out in the future."

That future looks brighter for Couch these days. Now he's sitting on a leaderboard.