| Irving,
Texas. 16th May, 1998 -
Fred Couples has always moved through golf with breathtaking ease and a
fluid swing that is the envy of many. Now adversity has given him a peace that
lifted him to the lead at the GTE Byron Nelson Classic. "Freddy
didn't seem like himself on the first tee," said Hal Sutton, who was at 11-under-par
199 after 54 holes, three strokes behind Couples and two in back of Harrison Frazar
after today's third round. "He
is usually so loose and talking but he was off by himself," Sutton said.
Whatever was
churning inside Couples was making it look like this was certainly not his day
at the Four Seasons Resort. "I
didn't miss a shot on the range, but my mind just kind of stopped," Couples
said. "I didn't bring it from the range to the tee." Couples
has had many things on his mind in the last year. There was the death on Thanksgiving
day of his father, Tom, and then the breast cancer of his girlfriend, Thais Bren.
"It's given
me a kind of peace," Couples said. "I feel comfortable with my father.
He had a long life and I realize how lucky I am to be doing what I'm doing. And
I have the best girl in the world." Maybe
it was those thoughts that helped him turn his day around. Couples
made bogeys on two of the first four holes and appeared to be losing contact with
the field. "Then
I made a putt and 'Pop!' I started hitting the ball better," he said. And
Couples took advantage of those good shots by making virtually every makeable
birdie putt he had, playing the final 14 holes nine under par as he shot a 63,
including a 29 on the back nine. "It
wasn't a great round," Couples said. "But when I hit a good shot I made
the putt." The
longest of those putts was a 40-footer for birdie on No. 17. On the previous hole
he hit a 3-iron from 215 yards to 15 feet and made the eagle putt. Couples,
who finished second to Mark O'Meara by one stroke at The Masters last month despite a costly
double bogey on the 13th hole, seemed to reach out and pull his two playing partners
into whatever zone he stumbled into. Couples,
Frazar and Sutton -- the top three names on the leaderboard -- played in the same
threesome. "I
just kind of got caught in a whirlwind out there," Sutton said after making
four birdies and two bogeys. "All three of us just played great." Frazar,
a 26-year-old who played his high school golf in the Dallas area, played a steady
round, shooting 33 on both nines. "What
a great feeling to come out in front of your hometown and play with Hal Sutton
and Fred Couples," Frazar said. "They were such fine people to play
with." And
Frazar showed them some fine golf. He birdied three holes in a row beginning on
No. 5 and closed with two birdies in the last three holes. Defending
champion Tiger Woods was sloppy with every phase of his game and shot a 69 to
fall nine strokes behind at 205. "It
was ugly," Woods said after he missed fairways and missed even more putts.
"I didn't play very well. My pace was off on my putting." After driving
the green on the 385-yard first hole on Friday, Woods used an iron today. Couples
made bogeys on two of the first four holes and was lucky to make a bogey on No.
4 when trees stopped his ball from going into the water. "It
started out like I was going to shoot 78," Couples said. "Then the rest
of the day was nothing but birdies." With
a victory at the Bob Hope Classic and a second at the
Masters, Couples is off to his best start in years. "I
know he is watching," Couples said about his father. "If I win tomorrow,
I'll tip my hat to him. If I don't I'll read about the Colonial," referring
to the the next tournament. ... | 
