INTERVIEW OF FRED COUPLES

DAVE SENKO:   Fred, maybe just talk a little bit about your day, 5‑under, another round of 60's for you. 

FRED COUPLES:  Yes, I started out on the first hole and hit a wedge. I made about a 20‑footer which was a great start.  You know, I hit the ball pretty well up until I guess I bogeyed No. 8, 4‑iron shot, a lot of green to the left, and I just tried to hit a better shot than I probably should have.  It doesn't mean you are going to hit everyone good, and I pushed it to the right, down to the right of a bunker with not much green and pitched passed about 12 feet and missed it. 

And then turned around and hit a good drive and a sand wedge probably to about five feet and made it for birdie. 

I hit a wedge on 10 to three feet and made birdie. Played pretty well on those other holes. 

And then hit a good drive and a 4‑iron probably 10 or 12 feet and missed it on 15, made birdie. 

And then on 18 hit a good drive and a 3‑iron and 2‑putted for another birdie. 

Q.            No. 6, did you birdie that?

FRED COUPLES:  Yes, No. 6, I hit a wedge probably another 20‑footer.

DAVE SENKO:   Questions,

Q.            Happy overall, do you think there was more out there?

FRED COUPLES:  I feel good about the round.  I'm going to get some rest.  I guess we're going to go early tomorrow. So that's a good thing if we don't play out in the rain. I'm pretty tight. I'm happy with that round. I couldn't probably have done much better, maybe a putt. But I made a couple of putts. 

But I just like the way I hit the ball.  I drove it really well which made the round seem pretty easy. 

A lot of times on some of the better driving holes I hit a bomb up there. I hit a wedge into 10 and made birdie which is a really long hole. 

No. 9, I hit a sand wedge, that's a good driving hole. 

So those two birdies were because of good drives. 

I think 6‑under is leading.  Those are good scores.  I'm very pleased with 5‑under.

Q.            What was the longest iron in on a par‑4 today?  Or did you hit mostly wedges.  5 and 6 usually play longer. You had a wedge in on 6.

FRED COUPLES: Yes, I hit a 9‑iron. I hit a really good drive there. No. 6,  I hit a wedge.  Maybe.

16, I hit a really good drive.  I hit a 9‑iron in there too, but the pin was on the front. 

I guess it would be a 9‑iron.  But I hit driver on most every hole except for 12, which is a really tight with the big trees in front of the green.

Q.            What did you have in on 7?

FRED COUPLES:  I hit a wedge. I don't even know what 7 is.

Q.            Short par‑4, but the green is dramatically sloped back to front? 

FRED COUPLES:  Yes I'm sorry, I hit a really good drive there. I had 60 yards. 

Q.            Did you hit driver on every hole except one?

FRED COUPLES:  Well the first hole. And then on No. 12. 

Q.            I was going to ask you on 16, you were pulling your shot, you kind of grabbed your lower back?

FRED COUPLES:  Yes, a lot of times when the ball is a little bit below my feet, I reach for it when I get on my toes. 

The hardest thing is putting, where I feel like I get on my toes. When I'm standing up, ripping an iron or a drive, I'm okay.  But that was a little bit below my feet and then I go that way and it just grabs.  It's a position. 

I'm definitely going to, after this tournament, going to see this guy that I've been seeing for the last few years.  I can feel it coming on. 

But I feel good and strong. But any time that ball is down below my feet where I reach for it, that's a problem.  It wasn't a horrible shot, but I was trying to hit a different shot and I kind of flipped at it.

Q.            It seems the second half of the back 9 fits your game well, there is two par‑5s coming into the last four holes?

FRED COUPLES:  Length is a big deal. Again No. 10, if I could hit a good drive there, I'm going to go in with a shorter club.  That's uphill, a good hole. 

But to be honest with you, the front side is a very good side. It's a little ‑‑ I don't want to say trickier.  I feel a little less comfortable on it because I don't know the greens as well. 

And the back 9 you get an extra par‑5 in there, you can maybe miss a shot and still make a birdie. 

But on some of those other greens, you got to really know this course.  I got one practice round in the Pro‑Am, and now today, and that's why I feel good about shooting 5‑under.  I don't know the course probably any better than I did yesterday.  But score‑wise to shot 5‑under, that's a good sign.

Q.            It seemed like you were lagging your putt?

FRED COUPLES:  You got it, you were all over it. The greens were much faster today. Again, my first time yesterday I teed off at 7. Today I'm playing at noon, which is about when I finished yesterday. I thought the greens were much faster. 

If I did anything, I picked that up, and after the par‑5, I about butchered the third hole. I hit what looked to be a great second shot and I blasted out of the sand shot, sand shot 20 feet, and I putted out about 10 feet by but I made it. 

From that point on, I realized that any time I had a 25‑footer, I wasn't going to be too bold with it because they are not going to go in, they are going to go five feet by, and they are pretty tricky little greens.  But I did lag the ball very well today.

Q.            Did you lip‑out on 8, it looked like you grazed?

FRED COUPLES:  I hit a good putt.  All of us.  Watson power-lipped it out. Almost made a 50 ‑footer.  O'Meara lipped it out. That was a good putt. I don't like to make bogeys, but I've hit driver/ 4‑irons 8 feet on long hard par‑4's and 3‑putted before, so I know how to make bogeys, so that's a bad taste. 

But when you hit a bad shot, for me the key out here is putting. Even if I didn't make that putt, I still felt like I hit a good one, and keep going with it. 

Q.            How did you like that mob following you and your group today?

FRED COUPLES: Yes, and there were people out there on some of the holes where they had the chalets, that's a lot of people. That's really fun.  

Mark and I were talking about it, it's a big crowd. It's nice to see the people come out, especially tomorrow will be a tough one. That's a lot of people on a Friday. 

Q.            Have you ever had an opening round where the whole course wanted to be with your group?

FRED COUPLES: It's been a while. Maybe the last time I played with Tiger at the Buick Open.  Pretty much everyone was interested in what he was doing, and no one else. We had a very good pairing. It was fun to play with Mark, and I played with Tom a couple of times.

Q.            Do you think that's more relaxing, or puts more pressure on you?

FRED COUPLES:  You know, to be honest, it's both.  It depends on how you are playing. I mean it's a little bit more because everyone is watching and you want to excel in what you're doing and that puts a little bit more pressure.

When Mark Wiebe was 5‑ or 6‑under and Bob Tway, we were 1‑ or 2‑under, even though they're not that far ahead of you, you don't want to fall too far behind.  I know, from what I have seen in my two Champions Tour events, I feel like guys can really play out here, so you got to be able to play well. 

Q.            No lead is safe?

FRED COUPLES:  Not with the type of play and these courses are in phenomenal shape.  Even though at Naples when Tommy shot 61, I think after my score there was one other guy that shot 68.  That was a round that he'll never forget. It was an unbelievable round. Besides my score, he beat the next best score by seven shots, and there were only three or four other scores in the 60's that day.  But even two weeks ago when they played at Broken Sound, I watched it on TV. They play really, really good golf and that's because the courses are set up where they play like they did 10, 12, 15 years ago.  I can picture that. 

This course is a lot like a shorter version of Riviera. At Riviera the first few days, scores are 5‑ or 6‑under and that's about what they are shooting here.

Q.            Let's say it rains tomorrow, and the course is going to get longer, do you think that's a huge advantage for you, or do you consider that?

FRED COUPLES:  I look at it this way. I look at it's going to be longer, and I look at the greens are going to be a little softer and a little spongier, and I need to be careful in putting. 

So I don't ever pay any attention except what's going on around the greens. That means a lot of footprints, when it rains, and the greens get soft. But it will play longer certainly. I just hope they are not playing out there like in LA when we just played all day in the rain. No one wants to do that.

Q.            You played well in Phoenix, what's your plans on balancing the two tours?

FRED COUPLES:  My balancing act is going to be Houston and the TPC and Augusta. I think that's it.  So I'm not balancing anything after the TPC.

Q.            And the rest of the year?

FRED COUPLES:  I guess I will have about eight or nine Champions Tour events.  If this all happens, it will be the most I played in 20 years, it will be about 18 tournaments.  I hope I can do it. 

If not, I will worry about it later. I might play one tournament at the end of the year on the regular TOUR just to go play.

Q.            So you are not putting Majors on?

FRED COUPLES:  I'm not in the U.S. Open. I physically can't qualify 36 holes, you know. I would love to be in it, but I'm not. So now I'm in the Champions Tours Majors. 

Q.            You say you are going to see somebody, you mean get back therapy now?

FRED COUPLES:  After this tournament, yes. But I feel good. I feel better than I certainly did Monday and Tuesday.

DAVE SENKO:  Thanks, Fred.