Fred Couples lowers the boom to win American Family title
MADISON – It’s not true that Fred Couples can roll out of bed and shoot a 66.
He first has to stretch a bit
Still the coolest guy in golf at 57, Couples probably is the only player in the world who can take seven weeks off, barely touch his clubs the entire time and then go out and win a tournament without breaking a sweat.
He did exactly that Sunday, coming from three strokes back to win the second annual American Family Insurance Championship. Couples reigned on Steve Stricker’s parade, but even the tournament host couldn’t begrudge his final-round playing partner, whose languid swing is a testament to muscle memory.
“That’s OK,” Stricker said with a grin. “Walking up the last (hole), I’m like, ‘Well, if you win, you have to come back.’ He’s like, ‘I’ll be back.’ So all good things.”
Couples birdied six of the first 11 holes at University Ridge to reel in 36-hole leader Paul Broadhurst of England and then parred out for a 66 and a two-shot victory over Scott Verplank.
Couples finished at 15-under-par 201 and earned $300,000 for his 13th career PGA Tour Champions victory and his second of the year. In seven starts he has finished 2-6-1-4-5-13-1. Though his famously achy, creaky back won’t allow him to practice, his worst score this year is 71 and his scoring average is 67.47.
LEADER BOARD:Final results
NOTES:Milwaukee on AmFam Championship's radar
“I can take time off and hit the ball,” he said. “That’s not really the problem. It’s the scoring part. And again, I was a little edgy today playing because I knew I could shoot a good score.”
Now, Couples’ edgy is not the same as, say, Keegan Bradley’s. The guy has raised sauntering to an art form and his swing is equal parts Iron Byron and Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup.
“His swing hasn’t changed since I started watching him,” said Jerry Kelly. “My swing changes every day, you know? He knows where the bottom is on every single shot and I don’t. Do I understand it? No. But, you know, he’s an incredible athlete. I mean, if he was healthy, he definitely would have been Tiger Woods-esque.
“If Freddie had Tiger’s putter, he would have been better than Tiger. Period. Bottom line, no question.”
Verplank shot a 69 and finished at 203. Stricker (69) and Joe Durant (67) tied for third at 204 and Broadhurst (73) slid to fifth place alone.
Stricker, the longtime Madison resident who has put his name and face on this tournament and his heart and soul into making it special, was running on fumes at the tail end of an exhausting schedule. He has played six of the last seven weeks and 14 total tournaments in 2017 after playing 16 all of last year.
Throw in 36-hole qualifying for the U.S. Open, practice rounds and pro-ams and it’s a wonder he was still standing Sunday evening.
“From a pure golf standpoint, the guy’s 50 years old and he’s Superman,” said Jack Salzwedel, chairman and CEO of American Family Insurance. “But then beyond golf the whole week, starting with what we had going on Monday and what we had going on Tuesday, I mean, he’s attended everything. The pairings party. The Darius Rucker concert. So not just on the golf side, but being the host and taking it seriously with the sponsors and things like that. He’s tremendous.”
The hectic schedule and the self-imposed pressure of trying to perform before huge galleries who gave him ovations on every tee and green took some of the edge off his normally sharp short game and putting.
“I’m tired,” said Stricker, who went straight from the U.S. Open to his own tournament. “This is six out of seven weeks playing and the last two have been full of excitement and pressure. It’s been great, don’t get me wrong, but I’m ready for a little time off and to get away from the game a little bit.”
First, however, he’ll hop on a plane Monday morning and play in Verplank’s charity event in Edmond, Okla.
“How about that, huh?” Salzwedel said. “Pretty amazing.”
Couples’ schedule has been the polar opposite of Stricker’s. He hadn’t played a competitive round of golf since May 7 and said he played five total practice rounds to get ready for the AmFam.
“Well, he’s a tremendous talent,” Stricker said. “He’s always been a great player. Why would it stop now?”
Couples won the 1992 Masters and 14 other PGA Tour events and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. But there is the nagging feeling that his career would have been much better if not for his nagging back.
“I wish I would have won another major,” he said. “I had probably four or five really, really good chances and I didn’t do it. But other than that, I just can’t ever look back.”
Something might be gaining on him. But it wouldn’t be old age.