Cologuard Classic: Feeling good and playing well, Fred Couples soars to second place entering final round

On the 17th hole Saturday, on the heels of a bogey, Fred Couples striped a 3-wood over the water, boldly landing his ball in the middle of the fairway.

On the 18th hole, after watching playing partner Ken Tanigawa hit driver, Couples put his 3-wood away and pulled out the big stick. With water on either side, he again found green grass.

Call it the YOLO approach to golf. Couples turned 60 in October. He knows he’s that much closer to the end of his illustrious career.

“Well, I’ve been counting the years down, so when I turned 60 that just gave me one less to worry about,” Couples deadpanned after shooting a 7-under 66 to move into second place at 12 under par, two strokes behind Brett Quigley in the Cologuard Classic at Omni Tucson National Resort.

“There aren’t going to be too many more. That’s basically it.”

Couples doesn’t seem anywhere close to done. His balky back still bugs him occasionally, but he ranks 12th in the field this week in average driving distance at 309 yards. His smooth swing looks as effortless as ever.

“I don’t feel any different than when I was 57,” Couples said. “I’m sure when I’m 65 I’ll be done probably. But I enjoy playing. If I can drive it like that, then age is really irrelevant.”

Couples is 10 years older than Quigley, whom he trails by two strokes. Couples fondly referred to Quigley as “the kid,” a nod to his rookie status on the PGA Tour Champions.

Quigley has emerged from obscurity to become one of the tour’s hottest players. He was basically the last man in the field at the Morocco Champions in January yet notched his first career victory in only his second Champions Tour start.

“He’s very long, and that helps anybody play golf,” Couples said. “When you win, you catch a lot of momentum no matter who you are.”

Quigley is tied for 15th in averaging driving distance this week at 306.3 yards. He ranks first in scrambling (4 of 4) and average putts per greens in regulation (1.66).

Quigley wasn’t quite as sharp Saturday as Friday, when he shot a bogey-free, 9-under 64. But he played well enough to card a 5-under 68, which tied for the ninth-best score of the day.

Three players matched Couples’ 66. They included Miguel Angel Jiménez, who is one of two players three shots behind Quigley at 11 under par. The other is another rookie, Rod Pampling, who followed a first-round 67 with a 68. Two other international players, Bernhard Langer and Robert Karlsson, are tied for fifth at 10 under.

Although his hair is graying and his face is wrinkling, Quigley didn’t balk at Couples dubbing him “the kid.”

“That’s nice,” Quigley said. “Certainly I feel like a newbie again, definitely a neophyte out here. It’s against all the guys I grew up playing with and a lot of guys I grew up watching.”

Back in his PGA Tour days, Quigley made four starts at Tucson National. He missed the cut three times. His best finish was a tie for 65th.

Quigley played bogey-free golf for 28 consecutive holes in the Cologuard Classic, his lead swelling to four shots. In what felt like mere minutes, the advantage shrunk to one as Quigley bogeyed the par-4 11th and Pampling eagled the par-5 12th.

Quigley then found himself in a precarious position on No. 12, having flown the green with his second shot. His ball came to rest just inside the cart path, and he had minimal green to work with.

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“I’ve put myself in a lot worse spots than that,” Quigley said.

He hit a delicate pitch to about 6 feet and sank the putt for birdie.

“I got a little distracted, I backed off and then I hit a bad shot right of the green there,” Quigley said. “Got fortunate, stayed inside the cart path and hit a great pitch.

“I kind of righted the ship. Again, I just was off a little bit today. But I was happy to shoot under par.”

Couples finished strong Friday, making birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to cap a first-round 68. He started hot Saturday, birdieing five of the first six holes en route to a front-nine 31.

Couples doesn’t believe momentum carries over from one day to the next, though. For him, it’s all about how he feels on the range before the round. Lately, he’s been feeling good.

“It’s been like that for months now,” Couples said. “So when I go on the course, I feel like I can hit it where I’m looking, and that’s very important to me. Sometimes I wake up, and I’m just so sore and stiff that I kind of maneuver the ball around.”

The immaculate weather here has helped. It was in the mid-70s Saturday with just enough sunshine and minimal wind, ideal conditions to shoot low scores.

Couples’ 66 was a stroke off his opening-round 65 in 2017. He had a couple of hiccups on the back nine, making bogey on the par-4 10th and the par-3 16th.

Couples’ iron shot off the tee at 16 came up well short of the green. It was one of a handful of swings that had Couples wincing.

“I made about three of them today,” he said. “I just get stuck, and that’s when my back goes in a position where I don’t really want it.

“I was trying to hit a low bullet in there. Not a great shot. I was just trying to get middle of the green. I fatted it, and those hurt.”

Undeterred, Couples ripped that 3-wood on the par-5 17th. His second shot settled on a hill just past the green. He sank a short putt for birdie, then got up and down from the front-side bunker on 18 for a closing par and sole possession of second place.

“It was a good feeling,” Couples said. “I stroked it well, and it went in. As they say, dinner’s going to be a lot better.”

Chip shots

• Defending champion Mark O’Meara shot his second consecutive 4-under 69 and is tied for 10th at 8 under par.
• Steve Stricker, the 2018 champ, was within striking range of the leaders before double-bogeying the 18th hole. Stricker’s tee shot rolled into the left water hazard. He’s also tied for 10th at 8 under.
• Tucson product Willie Wood
  • shot a 2-under 71 and is tied for 24th at 5 under par.
  • The 18th hole again was the most difficult, yielding almost as many double bogeys (seven) as birdies (nine). One of those birdies came in highly unusual fashion: Larry Mize hit his tee shot into the water, then holed out.