The Fred Couples Homepage » Arnold Palmer Invitational http://www.fred-couples.com Fan site for the professional golfer, Fred Couples. Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:26:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Couples cut at Arnold Palmer Invitational http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/27/couples-cut-at-arnold-palmer-invitational/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/27/couples-cut-at-arnold-palmer-invitational/#comments Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:43:33 +0000 Taylor http://www.fred-couples.com/?p=938 Fred Couples missed the cut at the Arnold Palmer invitational. A second round 71, while much better than the opening round of 80, was of little consequence. At 11-over, he was well back of the cut line. He now goes to Houston to play in the Shell Houston Open.

While playing better in the second round, Fred was still struggling with his iron play. He was only able to hit 1 in 3 greens, which is far worse than the 1 in 2 greens that the field is averaging. When he does hit the green, he averaged 40 feet from the pin. His total driving was well behind the field averages as well. He was a stunning 11 yards shorter than the field average and hit only 46% of the fairways compared to the field average of 60%. Couples has a lot to work on between now and two weeks when the Masters begins.

]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/27/couples-cut-at-arnold-palmer-invitational/feed/ 1 80 puts Fred in difficult position http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/26/80-puts-fred-in-difficult-position/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/26/80-puts-fred-in-difficult-position/#comments Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:31:42 +0000 Taylor http://www.fred-couples.com/?p=927 Finding himself in next to last place, Fred Couples will have to look at Friday as a chance to work on his game in preparation for next week’s Shell Houston Open and the following week’s Masters. A round that never got on track, Couples made bogey or worse on every hole from the 5th through the 11th. Couple that with a bogey at the third and a double at the 18th, and it was a long day for Fred.

Couples struggled mightily with his irons, barley hitting 1 in 4 greens on the day. He found less than half the fairways and the greens that he did hit, he averaged 1.8 putts. The round of 80 was his worst since shooting 78 in the third round in last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. It is the first time he has shot 80 or worse since he shot his worst round as a professional at the Barclays in 2006 when he shot 83 in the final round.

]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/26/80-puts-fred-in-difficult-position/feed/ 0 Arnold Palmer Invitational week http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/24/arnold-palmer-invitational-week-2/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/24/arnold-palmer-invitational-week-2/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:48:07 +0000 Taylor http://www.fred-couples.com/?p=923 Fred Couples returns to action this week in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida. As many Fred fans will remember, Couples opened this tournament last year with a stellar 65 that put him in the lead. Unfortunately, he would fade all the way back to 64th to end the tournament. This is Fred’s first tournament since his third place finish at the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.

The API is played at the Bayhill Club & Lodge, designed by Arnold Palmer. The course plays over 7,200 yards at a par of 70 and opened in 1963.

TV this week:
Thu, 3/26: Golf Channel 3-6
Fri, 3/27: Golf Channel 3-6
Sat, 3/28: NBC 2:30-6
Sun, 3/29: NBC 2:30-6

Tee Times: Thursday 1:18 PM Eastern | Friday 8:48 AM Eastern | Partners: Stuart Appleby and Cameron Beckman

Official site: ArnoldPalmerInvitational.com (News from API.com can be seen in the lower right portion of this site.) | Tickets

PGA Tour site: API @ PGATour.com

Defending Champion: Tiger Woods (-10)

]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2009/03/24/arnold-palmer-invitational-week-2/feed/ 0 Couples finishes 64th at Arnold Palmer Invitational http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/16/couples-finishes-64th-at-arnold-palmer-invitational/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/16/couples-finishes-64th-at-arnold-palmer-invitational/#comments Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:37:17 +0000 Taylor http://www.earthgolf.com/fred/2008/03/16/couples-finishes-64th-at-arnold-palmer-invitational/ A week that started out so promising was turned on 7 consecutive holes – 4 to end the day on Saturday where he went 7-over and three to start Sunday where he went 4-over. (If Fred finishes at even par on those seven holes, he ties for eighth place.) Fred shot 71 on the day – including a promising 33 on the back nine to finish the tournament. He finished 17 shots behind winer Tiger Woods, who he was tied with after two rounds.

Fred’s next tournament is likely the Houston Open in two weeks.

]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/16/couples-finishes-64th-at-arnold-palmer-invitational/feed/ 0 Third round woes http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/15/third-round-woes/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/15/third-round-woes/#comments Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:52:39 +0000 Taylor http://www.earthgolf.com/fred/2008/03/15/third-round-woes/ Fred Couples was not able to mount a moving day charge at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Instead of moving up the leaderboard, Fred moved backwards. Fred really struggled on his last four holes, finishing 7 over on the last four holes. This included a triple bogey on the 18th, which featured this play-by-play description.

Shot 1 261 yds to right rough, 184 yds to hole
Shot 2 55 yds to left fairway, 155 yds to hole
Shot 3 149 yds to water, 22 ft to hole
Shot 4 Penalty
Drop in left fairway, 156 yds to hole
Shot 5 155 yds to green, 10 ft to hole
Shot 6 putt 11 ft 7 in., 23 in. to hole
Shot 7 in the hole

The 8-over 78 dropped Fred all the way down to 67th place and 12 shots behind leaders Tiger Woods, Sean O’Hair, Bart Bryant, Bubba Watson and Vijay Singh.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Fred was in a good mood early today before his tee time.

Palmer also shared some yucks with Fred Couples out on the range. Couples seems to be in a great mood today; he was laughing up a storm with a few folks just before his 11:48 a.m. tee time.

Also, a classic Freddie-ism on his thoughts about the Hall of Fame.

“I know I’m certainly talked about, but do I need to be in there? I would like to be. Should I be in there? Probably not. I mean, I’m close.”

There are three photos from today’s round in the gallery.

Fred tees off early on Sunday for the fourth round – 8:51 AM Eastern with Robert Gamez.

Join the forum discussion on this post]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/15/third-round-woes/feed/ 0 Second round down, but not out http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/14/second-round-down-but-not-out/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/14/second-round-down-but-not-out/#comments Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:35:43 +0000 Taylor http://www.earthgolf.com/fred/2008/03/14/second-round-down-but-not-out/ Despite a second round 73 that knocked Fred out of first and down to 20th place in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he’s still very much in the tournament.

On a day when low scores seemed to come in fist fulls, Fred struggled with nearly every aspect of his game. Missed putts, drives finding water hazards and indifferent iron play left Fred at 3-over at the turn. Another bogey at the 11th pushed him to just 1-under for the tournament before a birdie at the par three 14th help to right a wayward ship. He would finish the back nine at level par. The poor showing on the outward half, coupled with Vijay Singh’s 65, dropped Fred seven shots back heading into the third round.

Despite the fall, there is still plenty of opportunity for Fred to move up. He finds himself just two shots out of the top ten. Overnight rain in the Orlando area will give way to sunny skis, temperatures in the low 80s and very windy conditions. The difficult scoring conditions may favor Couples, as it will likely prevent more easy scoring and offer Fred a chance to climb back up the leaderboard.

Fred’s third round tee time is at 11:48 AM Eastern with Matt Jones.

Photos from the second round can be found in the gallery.

Join the forum discussion on this post]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/14/second-round-down-but-not-out/feed/ 0 Fred leads after first round http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/13/fred-leads-after-first-round/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/13/fred-leads-after-first-round/#comments Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:16:31 +0000 Taylor http://www.earthgolf.com/fred/2008/03/13/fred-leads-after-first-round/ A brilliant round of 65 in the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational has Fred Couples tied for the lead with J.J. Henry. He started off incredibly hot, birdieing four of his first six holes. Playing the back nine first, the fast start and a hot putter led to an outward half of 32. At the turn, he would birdie his first two holes and par in for an inward half 33.

There are a lot of articles out there on the first round. Below is a roundup of many of them:

The entire post round interview transcript can be found here.

You can find all the photos from today’s round in the gallery.

A post round interview from XM radio where Fred mentions he woke up this morning trying to figure out where he can find a birdie. He managed to find six.

Fred has led after the first round in 18 tournaments in his entire career. He has won three times, including the last time he won on tour at the 2003 Shell Houston Open. In his 1992 win at Bayhill, Fred was the first round leader after an opening 67. Thanks to Fred fan Andy for this link.

Fred fan Justin files this report for the Fred Couples Homepage.

Oh what a beautiful day and a great day for Fred fans! I caught up w/ him at the range as he hit his last few drivers then headed over to the putting green where he stroked about 5 putts before starting his round. A couple of points and highlights:

-He was crushing the ball in the fairway all day long, consistently 25-40 yards farther than Goydos and Ames.

-Didn’t miss a putt inside 10 ft. all day, used conventional grip for long ones, cross-handed for shorter ones…i think the 6 footer for birdie at the first gave him a lot of confidence for the rest of the round. Also, he often times went up and stared right around the hole before he putted, something I’ve never seen him do before.

-2 Spectacular saves, the first was on the long par 3, 14th. Coming off birdie, he pushed his iron way left and a tree was in direct line of the pin. He played an incredible flop shot over the tree to about 7 ft, drained the putt. The 8th hole was even more remarkable. He hit is drive way right into the trees and left himself a terrible angle into the green with absolutely No shot. He spent a lot of time thinking with Joe and kept shaking his head. He then pulled an 8 iron for the 152 yard shot and hit it as high as he could. The shot barely clipped a leaf of the tree and ended up just short of the green but over the water. The crowd went wild b/c it really was dead over there..he got up and down and saved par again.

-On the 2nd hole, Goydos caddie got sick and he replaced him w/ someone in the gallery, only wish it could have been me!

-Fred was in a good mood the whole day, joking w/ Joe and Goydos…Ames is a weird duck and kind of stuck to himself…some stretching but not more than usual, back is fine! I just could not believe the way he putted today, I think it is all about confidence w/ him

-I was one of only a handful of people at the tenth tee this morning, but by the turn his gallery was second only to Tiger

Gonna try to make it back for Saturdays round…play well tomorrow Fred!

Fred tees off tomorrow at 2:06 PM Eastern.

Join the forum discussion on this post]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/13/fred-leads-after-first-round/feed/ 1 Arnold Palmer Invitational tee times http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/12/arnold-palmer-invitational-tee-times/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/12/arnold-palmer-invitational-tee-times/#comments Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:09:32 +0000 Taylor http://www.earthgolf.com/fred/2008/03/12/arnold-palmer-invitational-tee-times/ The first and second round tee times at the Arnold Palmer Invitational for Fred are as follows (times Eastern):

Thursday: 9:36 AM 10th Tee
Friday: 2:06 PM 1st Tee

His playing partners are Stephen Ames and Paul Goydos.

]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/12/arnold-palmer-invitational-tee-times/feed/ 0 Arnold Palmer Invitational week http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/11/arnold-palmer-invitational-week/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/11/arnold-palmer-invitational-week/#comments Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:21:01 +0000 Taylor http://www.earthgolf.com/fred/2008/03/11/arnold-palmer-invitational-week/ Fred Couples continues play this week in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida coming off last week’s PODS Championship. It’s Fred’s first time playing the API since 2005, when he tied for 8th place.

The API is played at the Bayhill Club & Lodge, designed by Arnold Palmer. The course plays over 7,200 yards at a par of 70 and opened in 1963.

TV this week:
Thu, 3/8: Golf Channel 3-6
Fri, 3/9: Golf Channel 3-6
Sat, 3/10: NBC 2:30-6
Sun, 3/11: NBC 2:30-6

Official site: ArnoldPalmerInvitational.com (News from API.com can be seen in the lower right portion of this site.) | Tickets

PGA Tour site: API @ PGATour.com

Defending Champion: Vijay Singh (-3)

Join the forum discussion on this post]]> http://www.fred-couples.com/2008/03/11/arnold-palmer-invitational-week/feed/ 0 Top 10 for Fred @ Bayhill http://www.fred-couples.com/2005/04/04/top-10-for-fred-bayhill/ http://www.fred-couples.com/2005/04/04/top-10-for-fred-bayhill/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2005 05:00:00 +0000 David http://wire2.wirenine.com/~earthgol/fred/?p=418 In what could have been a extremely good round, Fred Couples bogeyed his final three holes and finished tied for 8th place at the Bayhill Invitational.

Like he did last week at the Honda Classic, Fred started his final very stong with 4 birdies in the first 6 holes. At that moment, the man was only 2 stokes off Kenny Perry’s lead, and it looked like he

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