Kramer Hickok buoyed by Fred Couples friendship

Kramer Hickok was 13, maybe 14, when he first met Fred Couples.

His dad was playing with the former Masters champion in the pro-am at what is now called the Charles Schwab Challenge, and Hickok got to play hooky from school and walk the back nine with them at Colonial Country Club.

“I'll never forget Fred put his arm around me, walking down the fairway and, oh man, that was really cool,” Hickok recalls. “It really made me want to become a PGA TOUR pro.”

And he did, after graduating from the University of Texas with a degree in geography in 2015. Hickok won twice on the MacKenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and once on the Korn Ferry Tour before earning his TOUR card for the 2018-19 season.

Couples doesn’t recall that first meeting at Colonial, but their paths continued to intersect. While Hickok was a fan of Tiger Woods, like so many are, he learned to love Couples’ swing when he watched him hit balls at their club in Plano, Texas.

“It was just so relaxed,” Hickok says. “He’d hit a ball and kind of mosey on. He just had that sort of cool vibe, swagger to him. It was just really appealing. And he's the same way off the golf course. He was just so chill and relaxed – and what a good guy.”

Couples, who says Hickok is “the best,” remembers playing with the newly-minted pro and his dad at The Madison Club in La Quinta, California. Couples has a home there, and Hickok, who is sponsored by Discovery Land Company, which developed the club, spends three months there each winter.

And that’s where Couples has become a mentor, as well as a friend.

“He shoots like 6 under par, and he says, ‘Yeah, I just got my TOUR card and I'll be here a lot,’” Couples says. “So, we start playing and then what little help I can give, you know, I try.

“When he plays well – or when he doesn't is usually when I wear him out with texts,” Couples continues. “Sometimes when he is not playing well, I text him to try and cheer him up. When he plays well, I just give him some thoughts that maybe will help him. … He's turned into a really, really, really good player.”

Always known as a keen sports fan, Couples was there to offer support when Hickok was competing on the MacKenzie Tour in 2017. The World Golf Hall of Famer texted his young friend on the eve of one of his two victories that year.

“Saturday night, I'm up in Canada,” Hickok says. “I get a text and he's like, ‘You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have your A game. So don't try and be perfect.’ I'm like, What is he doing watching me? I'm up on a small little tour. And he's probably winning a golf tournament who knows where. And so that stuck with me. I always thought you had to be perfect, and you really don't. You just have to keep the ball in front of you, control what you can control.

“And for me, with my breathing and not getting too much ahead of myself, playing within myself and doing what I do best which is really have fun. And that's when I play my best and most relaxed golf and he's really taught me that.”

The message was similar last year as Couples and his fiancée Suzanne Hannemann watched the final round of the Travelers Championship. Not only did Hickok birdie the last hole to get into a playoff – “I’m screaming and yelling,” Couples remembers – he took Harris English to eight extra holes before finishing second, his best finish on TOUR.

“So, we text back, and (he says) thank you and I feel great. I'm hitting it great,” Couples says. “And I said, of course you are – just go out there and play like you know how to play. … Suzanne and I were sitting there watching and she knows him, too. And it was like, can you believe this? Just golf is such a weird game that this guy did all this, and Harris just did one thing better and that's how it works.

“So, then I text him a lot. I texted his father. I just tell him he can really play. And if that's a boost for him to – it's hard to keep your card and he did it with that (Travelers performance). … He’s phenomenal. He really is a cool kid.”

That said, the “cool kid” sometimes is a little surprised by the friendship that has developed. And Hickok, who says Jordan Speith also took him under his wing, admits he doesn’t always know whether to call his buddy Fred or Mr. Couples.

“You know I called him Mr. Couples my whole life,” Hickok says. “And I still do, but now we're starting to have more of a friendly relationship. It used to be almost mentor, father-son type of deal. And now it's becoming, let's just go have fun and play some golf together.”