It's a well-known fact in the golf world that Fred Couples doesn't like to answer the phone. He even made PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem wait last week before returning a call. But Finchem got the last laugh on the call-back.
At the end of the phone call, after having a conversation about an event in which Couples is participating, Finchem said, “Oh, by the way, I want to let you know you just got voted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.”
The rest of the world got the news Wednesday. Couples is the first member of the Class of 2013 and will be inducted on the Monday before The Players Championship.
“I’m not sure I was a great player, but I’m a good player,” Couples said.
Couples received 51 percent of the vote on the PGA Tour ballot. Ken Venturi and Davis Love III each received 38 percent, and Mark O'Meara received 36 percent. The election of Couples may bode well for Venturi, who has 14 professional wins, including the 1964 U.S. Open, and Love, who has 20 wins, including the 1997 PGA Championship.
The somewhat reclusive yet perpetually popular Couples won 15 PGA Tour events and one major championship, the 1992. Couples was captain of the U.S. Presidents Cup team in 2009 and 2011 and will serve again in 2013. Next week he will be an assistant captain for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Huh not out of it
A year ago John Huh was in Korea, playing in a tournament and watching The Tour Championship on television. He recalled watching Bill Haas hit his hero shot from the lake at No. 17 to save par and go on to win the tournament and the FedEx Cup.
Now Huh hopes a similar scenario can play out for him.
Huh, the only rookie in the 30-man field at East Lake this week, enters the tournament No. 26 on the points list. Haas entered last year’s event at No. 25.
“I believe I still have a chance to win the tournament, but I need a little help from the guys at the top,” Huh said. “I’m just going to do my best and see what’s going on.”
The stars need to align perfectly for Huh to win the FedEx Cup. He would have to win the tournament and Rory McIlroy must finish 21st or worse, Tiger Woods must finish sixth or worse, Nick Watney and Phil Mickelson must finish fourth or worse, and Brandt Snedeker and Louis Oosthuizen must finish third or worse.
Huh, who won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in the spring, is on his way to winning PGA Rookie of the Year award. That honor that has gone to the previous five previous rookies who have qualified for the Tour Championship, including Keegan Bradley a year ago. At 22 years, four months and two days, Huh is the youngest player in he field.
By the numbers
Among the 30 players in the field for The Tour Championship are:
- All 12 players on the U.S. Ryder Cup team and five members of the European team
- Twenty-seven of the top 30 on the PGA Tour's money list
- The winner of all four major championships
- Winners of 22 of the 32 events on the PGA Tour
- Eight players in their 20s
- Four previous winners of The Tour Championship
Etc.
What distance did you cover on the golf course? You can find out by getting a free pedometer and participating in the Humana Walkit program. The devices are available from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at stations located on the course. Humana will donate $1 for every 50 steps taken, up to $100,000, for local charities. … Atlanta resident and longtime PGA Tour player Billy Andrade will work as an on-course reporter this week at East Lake. … The weather forecast for Thursday's first round calls for partly-cloudy conditions with light wind and a high temperature of 80 degrees.
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