Couples Close, but Badds is Badder

I've been raving and reminiscing about Fred Couples, Riviera, and all of the great moments I've had involving the Nissan/Northern Trust Open over the years.  But Freddie did it again.  He wowed us all by posting another top-10 finish at age 51.

On Friday, Couples set the tournament on fire by firing a 66 and taking the 36-hole lead.  He hung in there on Saturday, shooting a 70 to wind up in the final threesome on Sunday, one stroke behind Aussie Aaron Baddeley and tied for second with local Diamond Bar native Kevin Na.  Baddeley shot a 67 on Saturday to take the lead from Couples and set the stage for a highly anticipated fourth round.

Early on Sunday, it appeared that the magic synergy between Freddie and Riviera was working in his favor once again.  He started birdie-birdie-birdie on the first three holes, including a chip-in from the base of the hillside on Hole 2 and took a two shot lead.  But the wheels starting coming off on Hole #6, where Couples seemed to have caught a case of "the rights". He missed the green on the par-3 sixth to the right, causing him to make bogey and followed up on the seventh with a blocked tee shot that started a slide down the leaderboard.  For the rest of the round, he seemed to miss many shots short and to the right, including critical tee shots and 12 and 16.

On the par-4 seventh, he found the deep rough to the right of the fairway, and was forced to punch out.  The recovery shot found a fairway bunker on the left side, and nestled close to the lip.  He blasted out with his third shot but came up woefully short of the green.  On his final approach, he hit a low pitch shot that appeared to be on line but checked up surprisingly quickly.  He was left with a two-putt double bogey.  To make matters worse for Freddie fans, Baddeley holed a difficult putt from the fringe to make birdie and cause a three shot swing to take a three shot lead.  After the round, Couples was quoted as saying that he never felt right for the rest of the day after his second shot on the hole, suggesting that he had tweaked his perpetually bad back with a violent swing from the cabbage. 

Couples started the final nine three strokes behind but hit a good drive on the short but devilish 10th.  His drive wound up right at the front of the green, but a tucked hole location in the back of the green made the approach difficult.  To get close to the hole, Fred had to flop a high pitch shot near the fringe to the right of the green, flirting with a ridge and possibly the bunker.  He did the unthinkable, and seemed to somewhat scoop his shot, which squirted short and to the right and caught the edge of the bunker.  What was a potentially easy birdie wound up being a bogey and probably sealed Freddie's fate for a comeback.  Baddeley made a steady birdie to put himself five ahead of Fred.

Baddeley would open up the door a bit at 12.  He drove into the right rough, and his second clipped a tree limb and fell into the worst possible place - the barranca.  He gouged out to the left fringe but did not get up and down and wound up with a double bogey.  After a birdie on 11, Couples parred 12 and found himself only two behind.  This hole was quite reminiscent of the 1992 tournament, where Davis Love III took a big lead into12 only to relinquish it with a triple-bogey to set the table for a Fred Couples victory that year.

In 2011, it was not meant to be.  Baddeley holed a long, twisting putt on 13 to seize the momentum back.  With a bad tee shot on 16, Couples sealed his fate, falling four behind.  A bogey on 18 pushed him even farther down the leaderboard.  He finished in a tie for seventh, five shots behind Baddeley, who carded a 69 to capture his third PGA Tour victory, and his first since the 2007 FBR Open.

For Baddeley, this victory comes at an ideal time.  The President's Cup will be held at Royal Melbourne this year, making the event extra attractive to Australian players.  International Team Captain Greg Norman is known for being a mentor to Baddeley, and must be rooting for him to make the team on his own merit.  After winning the Australian Open in 1999 and 2000, Baddeley was hailed as the most promising golfer to come out of 'Down Under" since Norman himself.  Now 29 years old, "Badds" has had a somewhat disappointing career so far, winning only twice on the PGA Tour until he ended his three year drought at the Northern Trust.

Freddie missed a chance at history.  At 51 years old, he would have been the second oldest player to win a PGA Tour event, bested only by Sam Snead, who won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open at at age 52.  For the galleries of Riviera, they had a chance to see their old favorite contend once again.  Although the Couples magic petered out on the back-nine Sunday, he still gave us all a thrill.  I wouldn't be surprised if he makes another run in 2012, and has multiple wins on the Champions Tour this year.