| Memorable Moments: Couples makes a name for himself in '84 Editor's Note: This is the sixth in a series of 12 vignettes about memorable moments in the history of THE PLAYERS Championship. The 2007 event will be played May 10-13 on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. After heavy rain kept the TPC Sawgrass closed on Wednesday, steady winds at 25 mph, with gusts to 40 mph, greeted golfers during the first round of the 1984 PLAYERS Championship. ![]() Fred Couples now has 15 PGA TOUR victories. In that first round, only two players broke 70. Jim Thorpe, on the strength of a 4-under 68, led John Mahaffey (69) by one stroke. A record 64 balls landed in the water surrounding the 17th green. Mahaffey commented that the 17th was one of the easier par 5s on the course. As the wind stopped and the sun came out, Friday's second round was a different story. Seventeen players enjoyed sub-70 rounds, led by Fred Couples' 64, which, at the time, was a Stadium Course record. Couples added back-to-back 71s on the weekend to win his first PLAYERS title by a stroke over Lee Trevino, who could never recover from a first-round 76. Couples was the only player in the field to record four under-par rounds in what was the third tournament contested at the TPC Sawgrass. Besides being a great golfer, Trevino was pretty proficient at recognizing talent. After the final round, Trevino said, "Winning this tournament should be a big stepping stone in [Couples'] career. I think we might see him at the top a lot in the future." In this tournament, even. Twelve years after his initial victory, Couples again won THE PLAYERS Championship. As for his course-record 64? It no longer stands. It was surpassed with a 63 in 1992 by Couples. |