After three decades, Couples and Norman intertwined
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
HUMBLE, Texas -- They are, to put it politely, a study in contrasts.
One is a serious non-stop Type A. He jets to meetings halfway around the world, then back again. Just in time to make another meeting.
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His empire includes golf course design, apparel, turf and wine. He juggles it all with the aplomb of Warren Buffet shuffling that famous portfolio. And golf? Where does he find the time?
The other is, well, a type Zzzzzzz. As in whatever the day brings. Just make sure there's sports on TV and chips and salsa in the wings. He might work on his game, he might just hang out. He might rest that cranky back.
The latter hit the shot of a lifetime in 1992 -- a tee shot at the 12th that shoulda, woulda, coulda fallen back into the water, but improbably Velcro-ed itself to the bank -- and won a Green Jacket. The former, who seemed destined to win two or three of those jackets, found a lifetime of heartbreak courtesy of the improbable shots of others.
Yes, we're talking your 2009 Presidents Cup captains -- Greg Norman and Fred Couples, who are both playing in the Shell Houston Open this week.
Shark and Freddy to you.
And that they'll be on opposing sides come this fall at Harding Park? Well, what else is new? They're polar opposites, period.
Norman owns spotlights. He loves the glare whether he's hanging out with former President Bill Clinton, making an improbable run at another British Open at 53 or explaining for the jillionth time that all those shots to the heart -- see everyone from Robert Gamez to Larry Mize to Bob Tway, and , well you get the idea -- or those 4-irons gone wrong made him stronger.
Couples ducks bright lights as deftly as those phone calls he hates to answer. Oh, he's outstanding when he's caught in one. He's affable, honest and engaging. But just try to catch him.
And when you do? He's our favorite run-on sentence. You don't so much talk to him as meander through his stream of consciousness. He's an old buddy you love to bump into. One minute he's talking sports, the next it might be an old mutual friend or all this TARP stuff. You simply never know.
Norman, on the other hand, is a CEO. Always has been. He's engaging, yet brief and to the point. His conversations are engaging and punctuated with a quip and a laugh. A guy's guy who has that rakish style about him and a perpetual gleam in those icy blue eyes.
At fiftysomething -- well, Fred gets there later this year -- they're still some of the game's biggest rock stars. And they're the perfect guys to follow in a pair of legendary footsteps -- Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
The Presidents Cup has always been a bit more laid back than its glitzy older cousin, the Ryder Cup. Players smile at the Prez and have a blast. Think Woody Austin, who fell in a pond, then donned those iconic goggles in 2007. No, we haven't forgotten Boo's Happy Gilmore gallop last fall, but he likely was taking a page from Woody.
Norman and Couples are a perfect fit. Norman's a World Golf Hall of Famer who'll be captaining a lot of players who grew up hoping they'd be him. Now they're drinking beers and cabernet with him.
And Couples? He hasn't made it to the Hall yet, but he's the reason this Prez thing took off in the first place.
Those first few Cups belonged to him. He kept making shots that turned a curiosity into an event. And it made sense. He was already the king of what we then-called the silly season events -- no one has won more cash there -- so why not give instant credibility to a then-upstart Presidents Cup?
What's amazing about these two is when you look at them today, you see them in their prime. You forget that both have been down rocky personal roads -- Norman with a messy divorce; Couples with a pair of them. You don't see that Couples' hair is more salt than pepper or that Norman's laugh lines have grown to middle-aged depth.
You see the guys you remember decades ago -- a brash Aussie who wound up waving a white towel at Fuzzy Zoeller at the 1984 U.S. Open and a kid from the University of Houston golf dynasty who wowed everyone with his first PLAYERS win. They pulled you in back then and they still do it today.
Norman was as big a story -- maybe bigger -- as Padraig Harrington at Royal Birkdale last summer. Contending at a British Open at 53? With barely a stitch of practice -- let alone tournament play -- behind him? Giddy as a kid with his first crush and fresh off his honeymoon with Chris Evert?
And Couples? When he won the Shell Houston Open in 2003, there wasn't a more popular champion. The city has embraced him as its own since his days at UH. The crowd? It went wild.
It's never a surprise to see him throw out a top-10 somewhere -- here and at the Wachovia Championship last year; a tie for third at the Northern Trust Open just this February. As long as his back doesn't have a crick in it, he's still got the shots.
And, oh, the week after this year's Presidents Cup -- win or lose -- Couples will be on a plane back to Houston where he'll make his Champions Tour debut at the Administaff Small Business Classic.
They're a pair, these two. Entertaining as the day is long. Great quotes. Great theater.
More than that, though, they command the respect of the players they'll have on their teams. They've been there, done that as players. Couples went 9-5-2 in four appearances; Norman was 7-6-1 in three Presidents Cups. Couples made those incredible shots; Norman was Norman.
Both will bring a little extra to this Presidents Cup, too. Couples has said he'd love to have Michael Jordan hanging out; Norman will have his wife Chrissie in tow. As for Presidents? Well, Norman and Clinton are buddies, while Couples and Bush 41 never miss a chance to hang out.
We'll miss having Jack and Gary around, but Freddie and the Shark? We like the pairing. Norman can't pass up giving anyone -- and everyone -- a little, well a lot of grief. Couples can take it and give it right back, so subtly you might not notice.
Trust us. You might think you'll just get wrapped up in Tiger and Phil and Geoff and Trevor. But you'll be wrong.
You'll be watching Freddie and Shark, too -- different as night and day, yet the perfect combination.
Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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