Couples feeling confident in game, back and Tiger

text size

Gruele/Getty Images

Defending champion Fred Couples will serve as Captain of the U.S. Presidents Cup team in a few weeks.

THE WOODLANDS -- Fred Couples bounced into the press room and took dead aim at the flat screen in the far corner.

Got a comment or question for Melanie? Click here to e-mail her.

Of course, there were a few speed bumps. A quick hello here and there. A brief moment mulling over the choices in the ice cream freezer.

He went for the strawberry fruit bar and pulled up a chair.

"What's Tiger doing?"

A captain's job, you see, is never done. Neither is a former employer's.

He asked Tiger Woods to add an event before next month's Presidents Cup and so, yes . . . the captain is watching. And that Freddie's old caddie Joe LaCava is on the bag?

No question who Freddie wanted to see more. Joe.

Tiger was 1-under when Couples turned away to talk about his own game and defending his 2010 title at this year's Insperity Championship; 1-over when he finished.

He gave a couple of those patented shoulder tugs to his shirt sleeves, flipped his cap sideways and feigned disgust. Then laughed.

These days, life is good. Really good.

His team is pretty much set -- save that Steve Stricker injury asterisk -- Plan B in place and the team schedule, uniforms and a handful minutiae are on cruise control.

His back is seriously less cranky -- although not perfect -- thanks to the Orthokine treatment he had in Dusseldorf a few months ago. He's sleeping through the night. Finally. And not even a pre-dawn drive from Austin to Houston for a morning pro-am time could slow him down Thursday.

"I feel okay,'' he said. "I don't feel as good as I did but that was I was probably 90 percent after I came back from this doctor. The more I play, the more the pain slowly comes back. But it's nothing like it was. And I think eventually I'll go back and see him again. But I feel good and I like it here. It's nice and warm. ''

Did he say like? Try love.

Yes, warm and humid is the perfect forecast for his back. So are perfect conditions on the TPC Woodlands course where he shot an eye-popping 29 on the back nine last year on his way to a 7-stroke -- yes 7 -- win.

And one more thing? This is a home game. Couples hasn't lived here since his college days at the University of Houston, but the city claims him as one of their own. When he won the Shell Houston Open in 2003 at Redstone Golf Club, about 26 miles southeast of here, the packed galleries couldn't get enough.

They never can. He is, after all, Fred.

Which brings us to the TPC Woodlands where he played in a dozen-plus Shell Houston Opens/college events.

"The golf course is in absolutely perfect shape,'' Couples said. "The greens are as fast and as good as any greens will play all year. ''

And, like last year, the field is impressive -- 28 of the top 30 players on the money list -- as the fifty-and-over set heads toward the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup.

Couples simply ran away from a similar field last year. Sprinted in fact. He opened with a 71, added a 68, then closed it out with a 63. Vintage Freddie. A walk in this park.

Two weeks later, though, he couldn't sleep through the night. And, despite three top-10 finishes this spring, including the Northern Trust Open on the PGA TOUR, it kept getting worse. By the time he finished T63 at the Regions Tradition -- "I think I beat five people" -- he was ready to quit.

He told his manager Lynn Roach, "'I'm not doing this anymore. Why would I do this?'' He would rest, then hit balls. Then hit more balls and it would hurt again.

So he got on a plane for Germany where he was treated by Dr. Peter Wehling.

"He thought I was a little worse than my MRI showed, so when I got there, he was not quite as convinced that I would be a perfect candidate for his procedure,'' Couples said. " Now, on knees, he's incredible, and elbows, but the back, it's not new to him, but there are a lot of people that have done incredibly well. And to be honest, it's a one week trip, and if I can feel like, that I would go three times a year. But I don't think that's what he wants.''

When he returned to the States, Couples said he "felt better after seeing this guy than I felt when I was 30. It was bizarre." Wehling thought the treatment would last six to eight months. It's been three months and Couples' back isn't feeling as good as it did in August when he won the Constellation Energy Players Championship.

So, Couples is thinking about going back to Germany in January.

"It's getting gradually where right now, sitting here, it's a little bit of a toothache but not crazy,'' he said. "And I am sleeping, and that's the only thing I can go by. It's not really the golf or golf swing.

". . . But this non sleeping thing, I've never experienced anything like it.

"I can be miserable anyway, but no sleep, playing golf . . . . when I'm feeling horrible, there are a few shots that I'll kind of stray away from. But that's maybe one a week . . . As long as I can swing, I can play with a stiff back. I've done it for a long time.''

Couples caught a few more glimpses of Tiger and Joe before he headed out.

Girlfriend Midge Trammel is on the bag for the third time in the last four tournaments. Last week Couples finished fifth with her caddying and she's working in her hometown of San Antonio at next week's AT&T Championship.

Her grade so far?

"She'll give you this grade -- In Seattle (Boeing Championship), she was frustrated because I asked her to drive a cart and that's where I'm from, and we probably had 5,000 people, and she lost her voice by saying, 'Excuse me, cart please, cart please, cart please,' '' Couples said.

"Then she caddied last week and carried the bag. I gave her an A-plus. Is she as good as Joe? No. She's not clubbing me.''

As for Tiger? No comparisons.The captain is just glad to see him playing.