Coveted spot in marquee PGA TOUR event on line
4 Min Read
Stars dish on parts of other players games they'd like to borrow
The Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, brings the best PGA TOUR Champions has to offer, as evidenced by the presence of Steve Stricker and Fred Couples for the first time since March.
It also is the year’s first major and one of only two this year, thanks to the global coronavirus pandemic that shut down all sports in America in March. The venue is one of the most familiar to players, as they played it for decades on the PGA TOUR when it was the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and before that the World Series of Golf. Not only do they enjoy the course, but they also know the winner gets a spot at next year’s PLAYERS on the PGA TOUR.
It’s a plum that can’t be overlooked.
“That’s my only shot of getting back to Ponte Vedra, is to win this tournament,” Couples said. “I think that’s the great thing the Tour does. Out of the blue I saw (Ken) Tanigawa play (the PGA Championship). I forgot he won the Senior PGA, and he played last week.
“And it has to be a lot of fun. I don’t know if that’s the first PGA he has ever played in, because he didn’t really turn pro until he turned 50, but I enjoyed seeing that. And for me, if I could win here Sunday and know I’m going back to Ponte Vedra, that would be a huge deal.”
Couples is in the first group off the tee at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, along with Champions Tour rookie Ernie Els and 9-time winner Miguel Angel Jimenez.
“Obviously it’s a real nice perk for us guys,” Els said of the entry into THE PLAYERS. “I know Retief (Goosen) won here last year and he was playing at THE PLAYERS this year, I know he was looking so forward to it until they canceled the event after the first round. Yeah, it’s some of the nice perks we can get winning the right events. We’ve got four rounds around this place. I can see not a very low score winning. The rough is up and it’s going to be a tough challenge.”
Couples, 60, is a past winner at Firestone. He appears to be in great shape despite the pandemic, and he started the year on an absolute tear. He placed in the top eight in all four events in which he played, including a pair of runner-up finishes.
So the answer is yes, he definitely is capable of adding to his total of 13 PGA TOUR Champions victories this week. But what would put him over the top? If he could borrow a few parts of his fellow competitors’ games, that’s what.
“Off the tee, I would like to drive it like Scott Parel,” Couples said. “And then second shots going to par 5s, I would like to hit my woods probably like Steve Stricker. And then irons, I will take myself, I’ll take my chances with my irons. And then putting, it’s easy to say Stricker, but I’m going to go out on a limb and I’m going to say Bernhard Langer. I don’t want to putt like that, but I would like to see my ball go in the hole as often as his does.”
Stricker has played only once on the Champions Tour this year, at the Cologuard Classic that wrapped on March 1. He tied for fifth. But the Wisconsin native has won six times in 23 starts on PGA TOUR Champions, and his play on the PGA TOUR this year indicates he’s always a threat.
Stricker, for his part, wouldn’t mind borrowing from Couples.
“There’s always guys that you look up to out here,” said Stricker, who is grouped with Goosen and Colin Montgomerie. “You look at Freddie’s effortless swing and tempo. Like Retief’s power. He can get the ball moving out there pretty far. Just Bernhard Langer’s ability to score and get it done.
“I mean, you can go down the list. There’s a bunch of guys out here that you look up to certain parts of their games and want to emulate or be like. So, but those few come to mind right off the top of my head. But I would say Freddie’s just effortless ability to hit it and to look good doing it. And plus he’s a friend of mine, and it’s fun to watch him.”