July 29--SAMMAMISH -- Just one look at his silky smooth swing or his self-assured, almost-reclined gait and it's obvious Fred Couples still has an abundance of confidence.

He's 50 now, seven years removed from his last PGA Tour win, and his balky back is a perpetual bother, but with a golf club in his hands he still seems youthful at times.

Perhaps, that's because -- by Champions Tour standards -- he is.

A Seattle native, Couples has found the 50-and-older tour much to his liking as he has become an instant force.

He's won three tournaments and $1.3 million so far this season, but -- and perhaps most important -- playing with the old guys is about to give him an opportunity to do something he never thought he'd get to do: Win a major championship in his own backyard.

Couples tees off this morning at 7:45 at the Sahalee Country Club in the U.S. Senior Open.

"To win here? It would be incredible. ... It would rank right up there with any of the other tournaments probably besides Augusta," Couples said Wednesday, referring to his 1992 Masters victory.

Couples -- a.k.a. "Boom Boom" for his drives -- has been here before. He played in the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee and finished tied for 13th.

"Going in there, I was 38 years old and was playing very, very well," Couples said. "I thought I had a shot at winning. And the same thing this week."

Couples hasn't actually lived in Seattle -- he lived on Beacon Hill growing up -- since he graduated from O'Dea High School and headed to the University of Houston to play golf. Now he calls La Quinta, Calif., home, but he still feels a bond to the area. And the fans at Sahalee still feel a bond with him.

On Wednesday, they lined the ropes three and four deep waiting for autographs and shouting words of encouragement as he played his last practice round.

"I wouldn't say (I've played) particularly well," Couples said, "but I've been signing more autographs than paying any attention to the golf course. So, (today) will be totally different and I expect to play well."

Couples figures the last time he won a tournament in Washington was the 1976 state open.

When the United States Golf Association picked Sahalee to host the U.S. Senior Open, Couples was thrilled.

But playing in your hometown has extra distractions.

Even as he practiced Wednesday he was helping mutual friends in the gallery find each other through the fans.

After today's round, he plans to give his girlfriend and her mother a tour of Seattle and the neighborhood where he grew up. Saturday night his family is having a party. He's also been named the honorary chairman of the tournament.

"This honorary chairman stuff is a little bit mind boggling," Couples said. "But it's going to be over Sunday and then next year someone else can be the chairman."

Couples told someone in his gallery that he's been having trouble sleeping this week, but otherwise he seems to be handling the distractions as coolly as he wields his 3-wood.

Fred Funk, the tournament's defending champion, doesn't expect there will be the slightest crack in Couples' focus.

"I think once the tournament starts, once he gets started it will be a motivation for him," Funk said.

A strong start today could make Couples tough to catch.

"He can ride that wave of emotion," Funk said. "And why not? It's in his hometown on a golf course I'm sure he loves."

Couples will play his first two rounds with Tom Watson and Argentine Eduardo Romero.

While Couples says Watson is one of his favorite golfers, it's Watson who says he'll be paying extra attention to Couples today.

"It's going to be interesting to see how Fred plays the golf course," Watson said. "He won't be hitting a lot of drivers, I know that. But his 3-wood goes farther than my driver. So we'll have a good time. ... I'll be learning from Fred. He's played this course more than I have."

True, but not much more, Couples said. He grew up playing public courses and doesn't remember when he first played at Sahalee or how many rounds he played at the club.

"To be honest with you, it really doesn't matter," Couples said. "It's so tight that you could play it once or a thousand times, you can't say I'm going to miss it over here, I want to miss it over here.

"Obviously the best thing would be is you get used to the greens. ... But as far as off the tees, I would rather have played it a couple of times to know really how tight it really is."

Watson says Couples' ability to hit the ball high will also give him an advantage when landing on the firm greens. Watson said the "firmness of the greens is probably as hard as I've seen a green in America in a long time."

It's the challenge of Sahalee that will make it even sweeter for Couples if he wins this weekend.

"This is just like a U.S. Open; no one's going to tell me any differently," Couples said.

"It's very tough out there. So to win here would be, you know, like winning a U.S. Open. And I'm from Seattle, so I would think it would be a great, great accomplishment. It would be very special for me."

Craig Hill: 253-597-8497 craig.hill@thenewstribune.com

COUPLES BY THE NUMBERS



9

Champions Tour events played this year

9

Champions Tour events finished in top 12 this year

3

Champions Tour events won this year

11

Number of eagles this season, most on Champions Tour

67.17

Scoring average, best on Champions Tour

298.4

Driving yardage, best on Champions Tour

$1,327,092



Earnings this year, No. 1 on Champions Tour

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