When you have a bad back, you never know what spine-tingling adventures the next day might hold.
Maybe you play four days in the warm Georgia sun, on an Augusta National course that ties the younger and more limber into slipknots. And it all, miraculously, holds together. You feel like a rock star again, and we’re not talking Keith Richards. You beat out 70 others at the Masters. Pretty cool since you’ve got head covers older than some of them.
Then, less than a week later, it seems like an entire preschool just used your vertebrae for a Lego set.
When Fred Couples got to TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth on Thursday morning, and the unseasonably cold breeze was gnawing at every 54-year-old joint, he knew he was in for one of those kind of days.
“You know, it’s just hard,” Couples said that afternoon. “I just had my back worked on before Augusta, then three days after Augusta, and I come and play in 40-degree weather this morning. And it doesn’t feel very good.
“That’s part of the deal.”
Born with a back that zigs where it should never even zag, Couples has been subject to the moods of his back and the weather for a large chunk of his career. He has in spite of that won 15 times on the PGA Tour, 10 more on the Champions Tour, $29 million on both, a 1992 Masters. He earned an annual pass to parade through the azaleas at Augusta like a star on the red carpet on Oscar night. On cue, he once more was a ceremonial Masters contender this year.
To be determined is how well he will hold up now that he is playing on consecutive weeks, having signed on to play the Greater Gwinnett Championship, beginning Friday.
If you’ve ever had a bad back, you maybe have a little more empathy for a player whose prodigious talents suggest he could have/should have won even more.
“I’ve had some back issues recently, and if he’s had the same thing for the last 20 years, I can’t imagine doing what he’s doing and competing,” Jay Haas, one of his fellow over-50 competitors, said.
“You wonder sometimes why he doesn’t play more. I, for one, realize why he doesn’t,” Haas said. “Golf is probably not the best thing you can do for a back issue.”
There is now one troublesome back in the golf firmament more famous than his own. Tiger Woods, of course, missed this Masters while recovering from disc surgery.
Now, Couples has never had surgery. He said his problems are not isolated to one area, and surgery would be a last-ditch, career-ending option.
But he is nonetheless an expert in the field. Since he felt the first serious twinges on the practice range at Doral in 1994, Couples has done the most personal kind of research. He’s been to more specialists than he cares to count and to Germany for experimental treatment that used proteins from his blood as medication.
So, any insight as to what Woods and the golf world can expect from here, Dr. Fred?
“If you look at the best player in the world and you see him struggling, it’s not much fun to watch,” Couples said. “When you hit a shot and you go to your knees — I’ve done that, I’ve done that several times. It’s not a bargain.
“I hope the surgery takes away the pain that he had. … I’m pretty sure that he’s a strong guy. His rehab will go quicker, and he’ll be out here faster than most. I think he’ll be just fine.
“I’m 54, and I have stretches where I do well for a long, long time. He’s got a long way to go to continue to play. I’m sure he’s not going to stop any time soon.”
As for himself, Couples arrives at Sugarloaf recalibrating himself and his game after another high-profile week at the Masters.
Naturally he’ll have to readjust to greens that are not quite the granite countertops they employ at Augusta. The crowds and vibe will be nothing like those he just experienced. This is a tournament on mute by comparison.
Attitude adjustments may be minimal, though, he suspected.
“I wait all year to play at Augusta, so it’s like a birthday party,” he said.
Now it is just back to the business of playing golf.
On the senior circuit, his back has never allowed Couples to play enough events to really contend for the Charles Schwab Cup, the seasonal points championship worth an extra $1 million. He has averaged 13 appearances a year since becoming eligible in 2010, which represents about half of a schedule.
Now second in the Cup standings, perhaps he’ll try to play more. But he makes no promises.
“For me to have a goal of winning the Schwab Cup, I can’t play 14 or 15 times unless I win six times. And I don’t know if that’s going to happen,” he said.
Couples knows a window is closing. “My goal is to play fairly hard for this year and the next two years,” he said.
When you have a bad back, that represents the most ambitious kind of long-range planning.
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