Fred Couples, An Old School Feel Player Uses Feel As Captain

A lot of Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup captains have used all kinds of modern stats and psychological theories for structuring pairings.  Fred Couples is more old school. He’s the kind of guy who likes to sit on the sofa and watch sports. People can identify with that.

“When I go into those ( team) rooms, Presidents Cup more, because lately I’ve been
on all these teams as a captain or assistant, you know, I can just see in their eye
something’s going on,” he said prior to the Constellation Furyk & Friends.

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Call it his spidey sense. It gives him a kind of Couples-only ESP to know when players are OK and when they aren’t. It’s also why people who have known him since college say he never misses anything that’s going on around him. It makes him a great captain and a great assistant.

He said he was only at the Ryder Cup because Tiger Woods couldn’t be present, but it’s likely that Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson are quite aware of Couples’ skill set and the fact that he diverts attention to others, like Steve Stricker. Couples has a theory on why Stricker was so successful.

“First of all, Steve is probably not any bigger than one of those players, meaning his record,” Couples said. “It’s not like Mike Krzyzewski walked in there. It’s Steve Stricker.”

He followed that by saying that Stricker has zero ego when it comes to most things, and particularly with Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.  Couples thinks he doesn’t have one either.

“I would rather see our team win the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup than me to ever play another good round of golf. It’s just part of a team thing is amazing,” he explained. He almost means it.  Almost meaning he’d still probably like to win another Masters if his body would let him.

However, when it comes to the 2021 team,  Couples was thrilled to be there. Dustin Johnson, he said, is one of his all-time favorites. Couples said DJ was not only the oldest player and team leader, but  hit a home run in the post-victory press conference.  The partying afterward, according to Couples, was not as wild as people might think, particularly given Johnson’s frivolity in front of not one but two microphones, which was unlike anything we have seen from him.

“I would rather see our team win the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup than me to ever play another good round of golf.”  Fred Couples

Couples also enjoyed the younger members of the team, particularly the ones he knows from California: Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, who he calls X-Man.  He has known Cantlay for 10 years.  Those three plus Johnson were his pod. How lucky could he get?  Just turn them loose.

Schauffele and Cantlay played Friday morning against Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter and won 5 and 3.

“First match, they won the first five holes against Rory and Poulter, and no one saw that coming,” he noted about the Friday morning in foursomes. “It was like, wow, this is the start to the Ryder Cup. We’re 5 up after five.”

It was a surprise because McIlroy and Poulter have been a winning combination for Europe on several Ryder Cups. However, it wasn’t just his pod that was impressive. Top to bottom, Couples was amazed by the play of the team.

“I’ve never seen people not nervous in my life,” he said about them. “They’re all better players than probably I’ve ever been, but there was just — there wasn’t much nerves.”

He also noticed that it was one time when every guy on the U.S. team was playing well, which he said never happens, well not until 2021.  No one had a problem playing, hitting balls, attacking the course.

“Everyone looked great, and that’s why we won so easily,” he said.  But there were other factors as well.

The captain’s job and assistants’ jobs are to help the players. Couples does it by by complimenting them on play and encouraging them.  His theory is that if it causes them to hit just one shot a little better, it’s worth it. A shot here or there has determined the outcome of many a Ryder Cup.

Couples said until Saturday evening, he didn’t even realize that the Sunday pairings had so many rookies up front. One of his friends texted him asking what they were thinking.

“I’m like, So, rookies? These guys are rookies? One rookie’s won two majors, the other guy’s Player of the Year, just won his last three of five events. X-Man can play against anybody,” he said.

So the atmosphere was different. The players were somehow relaxed. There was no pressure on anybody to do anything except play golf.

There were no outings, no dinners, no speeches.  If it was perfect for Steve Stricker, it was also perfect for Couples. He was such a wallflower that he didn’t even walk into the workout room.

“My job for that was I could go to the door and just look in,” he said. “I never could step through there because I thought I’d fall into some deep hole because I
don’t go into workout rooms very often.”

That’s almost as good as his all-time notable quote which was that he doesn’t answer the phone because somebody might be on the other end.  The reason he know that is the spidey sense.