Championship comes in vintage Couples fashion

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A 24-putt, two-eagle 63 that erased a two-shot deficit and earned him a win. All in a day's work for Fred Couples.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- It was vintage Freddie.

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A stroll in the park. One blip on the front nine. A runaway freight train on the back.

Who else closes with a tournament record 63 that includes a double-bogey? Who else pours it in from everywhere to shoot 29 on the back and turn a two-shot deficit at the start of the day into a seven-shot win?

Fairways, greens and -- oh, 24 putts. And, just in case you wondered, 10 under on the par-5s this week.

Not even close to a fair fight.

Fred Couples was just this side of perfect Sunday afternoon when he blitzed the field to win the Administaff Small Business Classic by seven shots. Mark Wiebe was the runner-up with a closing 71.

"I feel like I got lapped,'' Wiebe said. "If this was a car race, I feel Fred would have had two laps on me.''

And Corey Pavin would have gotten stuck in the pits. The Ryder Cup captain started the day with a two-shot lead and imploded on the back nine. Back-to-back bogeys at 13 and 14 that led to a five-shot swing. A closing double on the 18th, a 74 and a tie for fifth. And, oh, Couples came from two shots back beat him earlier this year at the Cap Cana Championship.

Not even Couples could explain what happened Sunday. He hit the ball great. Putted crazy. Seventh time he's shot 17-under or better this year. Fourth time he's won.

Should have won a couple more too, but he shot 21-under at the season opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and got beat by Tom Watson's 22-under. He lost a playoff to Tom Lehman at the PGA Seniors. He finished second to Bernhard Langer at the U.S. Open and second to Gary Hallberg and a closing 61 at the Ensure Classic at Rock Barn.

"I hit the ball very, very well, and I made a lot of putts, and all that stuff added up to 63,'' he said shaking his head. "It was not you know, there wasn't a lot of stress, you know.''

Still isn't. Couples is 535 points behind Langer in the Charles Schwab Cup standings with two events to play and, even though he's not playing at next week's AT&T Championship -- and Langer is -- he has a shot at winning. If Langer, who tied for 46th Sunday, wins next week, it will make it tougher, but Couples could still pass him at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

It really wasn't a goal for Couples at the start of the season, because he knew Langer would play five or six more tournament than he would anyway. And, he didn't even consider playing the AT&T because he is mentally and physically exhausted.

"If I went to San Antonio, I would be a wreck,'' Couples said, "and then I wouldn't be very good at the Schwab Cup either.''

Everything fell into place this week as Couples, the hometown hero from his days as a Houston Cougar, became only the second Champions player to win a PGA TOUR and Champions event in the same city. Couples won the 2003 Shell Houston Open at Redstone, while Tom Watson won the 1980 British Open and 2007 Senior British Open at Muirfield.

After withdrawing from the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship with a stiff back, he took about 10 days off. Then he went back to work Tuesday at the TPC at the Woodlands with Houston teacher/longtime friend Paul Marchand. They worked on swinging to take pressure off his back. And, he's been working with a "contraption" to strengthen certain foot muscles. It's all helping.

"I feel like anything helps, you know,'' he said. "I really do. I feel like Aleve helps. I feel like rest helps. I feel like Paul Marchand helping me swing, you know, where my back can take it helps. And he listens, because it would be easy for him to teach me to really go at it.

"And this week, you know, I told him not to, and we worked on something else, and I was able to do it. And you know, to be honest with you, I'm physically exhausted.''

You could see it after the trophy presentation as he sat with girlfriend Amy O'Keefe, Marchand and caddie Joe LaCava and munched on smoked turkey. For a few minutes. Then it was off to the airport for a much-needed week off.

But you couldn't tell it on the course.

"Fred is out in the stratosphere somewhere,'' said Dan Forsman, who closed with a 66 to tie for third.

And he may just stay there a while. He knows he's at the age where he can still out drive most of the field and when he starts putting like this? Anything can happen.

He did admit he might ease back a bit on his PGA TOUR schedule next year -- but not the Masters where he tied for sixth -- and add a few more Champions Tour events. That way, he might make it an even Schwab Cup race. But you won't see him playing 23 tournaments a year.

"I always take time off,'' he said "And you can always do better. I wish I would have won more. Wish I would have won two or three more times this year. I had the shots to do it. But I still like it out here.

"I'll be honest with you, I don't I don't thrive to win six, seven, eight, nine times. I think I can, to be honest with you. But that's an unrealistic goal, unless you're Tiger Woods and you're winning five, six, seven, eight, nine every year. But to win four, I have a shot at winning five, and that's kind of my goal."

One that, if he plays two weeks from now like he did Sunday, it will be vintage.

And it won't even be close.