Round 4: Northern Trust Open

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Fred Couples came up short in his bid to win a third Northern Trust Open, 18 years after his second win.

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Fred Couples wasn’t about to give himself a pass.

He didn’t care that he is 22 years older than Aaron Baddeley, who won the Northern Trust Open on Sunday. He wasn’t going to blame it on that chronically aching back of his, either.

"I’m a golfer so I’m disappointed," Couples said simply.

You see, Couples dearly wanted to be the one hoisting that big silver loving cup of a trophy on Sunday afternoon. He wanted to win the tournament for the third time and at 51 become the third-oldest winner in PGA TOUR history.

Couples just didn’t get the job done.

To be sure, he teased the partisan crowd with birdies on his first three holes Sunday. But Couples missed the green on the par-3 sixth for his first bogey and made double at the next after tangling with the hay and a fairway bunker.

And as Couples was giving it all back, Baddeley was surging forward. Golf’s king of cool ended up with a 73 that included bogeys on two of his last three holes on the way to a tie for seventh at 7 under.

"I’m disappointed but Aaron played very, very well," Couples said. " It was cold and it wasn’t easy. There were a few good scores, but I didn’t think it was very easy out there. I certainly wanted to par the last hole.  That’s disappointing. 

"But as far as the way I played, I played great. … If I could have just hit a couple more shots and finished even in third place, that would have been phenomenal, but it wasn’t, and I’m pretty happy with the way I played. But I was trying to win."

The sixth hole, which was the third easiest in the final round, started what Couples called wryly the "comedy of errors." Not only did he miss the green, Couples couldn’t convert the 4-footer for par.

Then came the drive that strayed right into the deep, gnarly grass on the seventh hole.

"We were lucky to find it," Couples said. "Then when I hit it out of there, I just didn’t feel the same after that. I didn’t really hurt myself, but I never hit a shot, and I just got it around. 

"I mean, I couldn’t hit an iron. I hit a few good drives, but I was like afraid to hit the ground, hitting it that hard out of that stuff. But again, I did get off to a good start, and that was where it ended."

Couples didn’t want to use the shot from the rough as an excuse, though. "It’s just that after that point, I never hit a shot," he said, describing several snap hooks and shanks. "I mean, those are not very good shots," he said.

"All I was really trying to do was get finished and hang in there, and I’m disappointed because I bogeyed 16 and 18.  But if I could have parred them, I would be in the same mood."

After the round, Couples said his back felt "terrible." Any other tournament, any other course than this one that is his favorite above all and "there’s no way I would have played this well," he said.

What’s next for Couples? He said earlier in the week he planned to have an MRI on Monday that would likely result in treatment he called both "drastic" and "fun."

Couples plans to play in the Champions Tour event at Newport Beach and possibly the Shell Houston Open. Then of course, the Masters at Augusta National, where he finished sixth a year ago. – Helen Ross