While they consider each other good friends, on the surface Fred Couples and Jay Haas couldn’t seem to be more opposite. Haas wears a cap that hides the fact that he’s long overdue for a few shots of Rogaine. Couples often plays capless, the better to show off his still-glorious salt-and-pepper mane.
Off the course, Haas has been married long enough to have a son, Bill, who is a regular on the PGA Tour and another, Jay Jr., who makes sporadic appearances. Meanwhile, Couples, who may be the biggest “attraction” on tour as far as female spectators are concerned, has been almost tragically snakebitten when it comes to happily ever after.
And these days, when it comes to golf, it seems each would happily trade for what the other has. Haas made the cut at last weekend’s Memorial, the 590th time he has done so in his career, tying Tom Kite’s record. Couples has played in only 542 events during a career that has often been tied in knots because of frequent back pain. With his silky, powerful swing, Couples is still a major talent, as witnessed by his Masters win in 1992 as well as his tie for third 14 years later at Augusta.
“Every time he tees it up, he’s one of the favorites out here,” Haas said recently.
That’s a status the 52-year-old Haas now enjoys on the Champions Tour. The winner of his past three events on the senior circuit, including his first major championship, the Senior PGA, Haas says it has been kind of strange being looked upon as “The Man.”
Even with that status, he admits to still gazing longingly at the guys on the PGA Tour.
“I have the mind-set that when I play well I can contend,” Haas said of the PGA Tour. “Every time I play poorly, I feel like I’m out of my league. I remember reading that some of the 50-something guys were playing the best golf of their lives. I don’t agree with that, because when I was playing the best golf of my life, I could win a tournament out here, and I haven’t won one since I was 40 or 41.”
Couples has nine top-10 finishes, including two in major championships, over the past two-plus seasons, but he hasn’t won since the 2003 Houston Open. That’s one reason he says there’s a part of him that would love to be walking in Haas’ shoes.
“It’s fun to be in that position,” Couples, 46, said of Haas’ weekly perch high on the leaderboard. “If I come out here and play when I’m 50, or on the senior tour, possibly playing well and being in the last group, that’s what I would rather do.
“I have no intention of (playing on the PGA Tour) as a mediocre player, trying to make a cut and finishing 60th when I could be somewhere winning. I used to say to Jay, ‘It’s about winning.’ I still compete out here, but he’s winning every other week. That’s what I would love to do.”
To go or not to go
That is the question facing Bret Guetz. A member of the Canadian Tour, the former Denver resident is entered in an event in Vancouver, British Columbia, the same week as the U.S. Open. However, after finishing as the first alternate to Dustin White in Monday’s qualifier at Columbine Country Club, there’s a good chance Guetz could be one of the highest national alternates, which carries the possibility of getting into the field at Winged Foot.
“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet,” Guetz said Wednesday morning. “I just put in a call into the USGA to see what they have to say about it.”
After Monday’s qualifier, there was talk Guetz would be the third overall alternate, but that wasn’t confirmed, and the Colorado Golf Association suggested he contact the USGA to be sure. As of Wednesday, Guetz said he hadn’t heard back from the USGA.
“I think the only way I’d go is if I was the first overall alternate,” Guetz said. “Or maybe the second alternate, and the first was someone from overseas who wasn’t planning on coming.”
John Hayes of Littleton was the first overall alternate for last year’s Open at Pinehurst. After spending nearly a week in North Carolina, practicing on the range and even hanging out near the first tee when play began on Thursday, his name was never called.
“John is a friend, and we’ve talked about that,” Guetz said. “If it happened, it would be a miracle and a blessing. But I don’t expect anyone to pull out of the U.S. Open.”
Chasing history, again
Speaking of majors, the LPGA takes center stage this week with the McDonald’s LPGA Championship. A week that started with incessant buzz about 16-year-old Michelle Wie’s attempt to make the men’s U.S. Open concludes with Annika Sorenstam’s bid at history. No woman has won the same major championship four consecutive years.
A win would also give Sorenstam a 10th major championship, putting her five behind all-time leader Patty Berg.
“I think that she’s making the headlines because of her potential,” Sorenstam said of Wie during a pre-McDonald’s news conference. “I think there’s no doubt about that. The potential is there, and I’m sure the expectations are there. She brings a lot of attention to the game, to women in general. That’s just very positive.”
Sorenstam lost a chance to generate some heat of her own when her annual goal of winning the Grand Slam fizzled in the season’s first major. Although she finished tied for sixth, the Swede never really contended in a Kraft Nabisco Championship won by old rival Karrie Webb. That, along with the fact that Sorenstam hasn’t won since her first event of the season has already made this a disappointing year for her.
“Obviously I’m not as happy with the season as I was last year when I came into this event,” she said. “I can’t really pinpoint what it is, other than that I haven’t performed as well. I’m making still a lot of birdies, but I’m making a ton of bogeys. And it’s been tough for me to score that way.”
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
