Couples divides attention, still finds time to compete

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Fred Couples hasn't devoted as much time as some others to golf, but will be playing to win Sunday.

THE WOODLANDS -- He stretched. He rolled his neck. He shifted in his chair. Again.

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Texas score? Horns blew it 28-21. Update on Houston-SMU? Weather delay. Oklahoma-Missouri? Missouri? Not so much. Oklahoma State-Nebraska? Nebraska 41-34 after three quarters.

And, oh Game 6 of the NLCS is on tap tonight.

Yes, we're hurtling through Fred Couples' mind once again. Lots of football scores and thoughts to run through. And, just maybe, a little golf.

He laughs that he's talking to the media again, even though he didn't crack an egg. We're still wondering about that one.

Couples, you see, threw out the low round of the week Saturday -- a 7-under-par 65 that zipped him up the leader board and left him trailing leader Corey Pavin by two, and Mark Wiebe by one, going into the final round of the Administaff Small Business Classic.

Our favorite run-on sentence made everything he looked at in the second round. Well, almost everything. He did bogey the 16th hole and he two-putted from 5 feet at the 14th for a par. But other than that?

"Obviously,'' he said, "it was a good day.''

Much better than his last tournament. Much warmer too. His back tightened up in the cool weather at the pro-am the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship and he had to withdraw.

A quick trip to see his Waco back therapist John Patterson, a couple of good sessions with his teacher Paul Marchand when he got to Houston and . . . he's knocking on the door once again.

"It's the same old stuff', Couples said. "I just get to where I get crooked in my hip and pelvic area, and then my legs get out of whack. Obviously that goes up the back.

". . . This time I went to see him and he said, You missed a treatment there. You know, you just kind of get out of whack.''

That back in place, he turned to Marchand, his friend from their college days at Houston. They're tweaking his swing a bit since he knows that going back to his old swing -- one from 10 years ago -- won't stand up.

"I'm working on a couple things that maybe I can do that my back can kind of take the pressure,'' Couples said.

So far, so good.

"Yesterday I hit the ball okay,'' he said. "Today I hit it a little crisper, a little closer.''

And shot, oh, six shots lower.

"I'd give the course a 9 ½,'' he said, "because it's hard to give it a 10.'

Couples opened with a 71 and followed with the 65. He birdied the first two holes -- from 2 feet and a two-putt from 20 feet -- and turned 4 under. He got it to 9 under for the tournament with a birdie at the par-5 15th -- a two-putt from 25 feet -- but gave one back at the 16th when he missed the green.

Couples has already won three times this year and finished second four times, including a playoff loss to Tom Lehman at the Senior PGA Championship. In that third win -- the Cap Cana Classic -- he closed with a 62 to beat Pavin by two shots and he finished second at his last complete event, the Ensure Classic at Rock Barn.

"Haven't paid as much attention to my game,'' he said. "You know, you got to do that. But I do that in spurts. I've done it my whole life. I just can't really grind for nine straight months. I didn't do it 25 years ago, and I certainly can't do it at age 51.

"I kind of take things in stride. I wish I would have won at least one more, but I haven't. So I got this week and the (Charles) Schwab (Cuo) to try and win one more time.''

Sunday he'll tee it up with Pavin and Wiebe, two players he's competed against since they were amateurs. He and Wiebe were both on Ashworth's original staff; he and Pavin are PGA TOUR stars, not to mention the current captains. Pavin is coming off a tough loss as the Ryder Cup captain; Couples will captain his second Presidents Cup team next fall.

"We used to hang out a little bit and it will be a fun threesome,'' Couples said. "Corey is a great shot maker. I can imagine some of the shots he's hitting in that wind.''

A few more details and he was stretching again. It was time to head out and watch a little football. And maybe some Game 6 between the Giants and the Phillies.

Golf? That can wait until Sunday morning.