Fred shot a final round 69, keeping him where he started the day – third place. Mickelson struggled all day and it appeared that despite Couples’ inability to make a putt, he would still catch Mickelson. However, birdies at the 16th and 17th by Mickelson moved him one shot clear of second place finisher Steve Stricker. Couples needed birdie at the 18th in order to force a playoff, however an errant approach led to bogey.

Couples also learned earlier this week that his ex-wife, Thais Baker, had died of breast cancer. Baker had battled breast cancer several years ago and Fred had dedicated a good portion of time helping her through that battle. His emotional win in Houston in 2003 underscoring their relationship at the time. More recently, the two had separated. Fred gave an encouraging “Hello, Ollie” after an interview Saturday to her son Oliver, who had caddied for Fred during the par 3 tournament in the Masters in years past.

After the round, Fred gave the following interview. A large photo gallery of the week’s action is here.

FRED COUPLES: I thought it was going to break to the right. I just couldn’t make another one at 18. You know, I was just trying to hit it right around the tree. I didn’t really aim for the green and cut it. And I just hit it right in the tree.

You know, if I had hit solid and pushed it, it still may have caught the tree. But I was just trying to go right along with it. It didn’t seem that hard. It was a perfect 7-iron.

And, you know, there’s so much commotion. I’m hitting over cameramen because of the angle, and I think I just got a little loose. I hit a bad shot, and I just didn’t give myself a chance.

Q. Were you still feeling good about being in that position?

FRED COUPLES: Oh, yeah. It was a tough shot on 12. Yesterday, I hit it up against the fence. You know, today I didn’t get the back swing and I blocked it.

Other than that, I hit most of the greens and had pretty simple birdie putts inside the hole.

Q. (Indiscernible).

FRED COUPLES: Nobody made the putts. I sure didn’t make one. But the greens were good. It was just hard. Everyone was bunched around, you know, 12, 13, 14 under. And Phil made a couple of bogies to give him a shot, and then he birdied the hole and made the birdie. But it would have been nice to at least have it on the green with a three putt for 70 feet, instead of shanking it.

But, I could have driven it in a better spot. I just on the second shot I hit everything fairly straight, and I wanted to hit it straight. All I had to do was pass the tree. You know, it was kind of a simple deal. I needed a nice shot underneath.

But, really, it came down to Phil not playing that well. And then me, the same old crap. I shouldn’t say — I mean every time I have a chance to play well, I seem to play okay.

If Phil had been okay on the front nine, he would have been 5 under and I would have been 3 over. But he drew well around the greens, and I just seemed to be very mediocre.

Not that I’m feeling horrible. I just don’t make every three, four for par. But you can’t catch up on Sunday. There are not enough holes.

Q. (Indiscernible)?

FRED COUPLES: No, because there were so many holes, 9, 10, 11. I hit the pin on 9, or thought I could get to it. Then when Phil bogeyed, he bogeyed 8. He bogeyed 7 to get to a couple over or 1 over maybe. I don’t know. Eagled one.

I just was hanging around. I knew he was going to pull it off at some time, but he waited until the last couple of holes.

But, no, you know, straight up for putt for birdie on number 7. I did hit a good putt on 8 to get to the hole. On 11, I hit it close and I was within a couple of strokes.

Q. Can you talk about Phil coming back?

FRED COUPLES: Way to stay. He’s fun to play with, and he’s a true competitor, and he makes the game seem easy. When he plays bad he still gets it.

I mean, he didn’t play well today, I don’t even know what he shot. 1 over, is that what he shot? I just looked at the under par. So, he at one time was 3 over for the round. So I mean, you know. He had a couple on 17. And a beautiful 9-iron on 16.

So he was never going to lose the tournament. He was going to have a shot at winning the way he was playing. If he had played well, he would have won by 5 shots, but he didn’t.

He knows what he has to do, and you know, playing poorly after 15 holes, he birdies 16, 17, and had a beautiful drive on 17. Hit a shot where he needed to. And made a nice six or seven footer to win.

Q. Could you sense any frustration from him on the front nine?

FRED COUPLES: No, no. I think he’s working on his game. It’s all the same. Just like you don’t want to show anyone anything. You can tell it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he was struggling.

But, you know, a putt here or there would have kept him alive and he didn’t make any. Otherwise he would have been fine. He missed, I guess, 12, and then totally lifted out on 13, the par 3. But, you know, he’s not getting too close.

Couples has stated he will take a month off now and probably won’t be at another tournament until either Arnold Palmer’s tournament in late March, Houston the first of April of the Masters.

The round of 65 is actually not his best round of the year, which came with a 64 at the Bob Hope Classic last month. However, this round was by far the best given the course. Couples will actually play in the final group on Sunday since the players are going out in threesomes. He will tee off with Phil Mickelson and Andres Romero at 1:45 PM Eastern.

Fred gave this interview after the round.

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome Fred Couples into the interview room here at the Northern Trust Open. You made your 100th round at the Northern Trust Open a great one today, 6-under par 65. Just some comments on your day.

FRED COUPLES: Obviously it was a good day. It’s besides Augusta, my favourite course and I feel like no matter how I’m playing, I’m going to come here and play well. It’s just a week where everything is kind of falling into place. I had a great day today. Actually played well on Thursday and Friday, too. So today was just a day of hitting a little closer and making a few putts.

JOHN BUSH: Just comment on that start, 5-under par 30 on the front.

FRED COUPLES: Right. I hit a good drive and an iron, 5-iron on the first hole and 2-putted.
No. 3, hit an 8-iron to about 15 feet and made it.
No. 5, hit an 8-iron probably 15 feet and made it.
No. 6, 7-iron to about ten feet.
And then No. 9, hit an 8-iron probably ten, 12 feet behind the hole and made it.

I had a chance at 10. And then 11, hit two woods in the middle of the green and 2-putted for birdie.
Then drove it up against the fence on No. 12 and hacked it down the fairway and hit a full wedge to about eight feet and made it for par.
One more birdie somewhere. 14, I hit 7-iron to about two feet and made it.

And then seemed like a good break when I hit it but on the 15th hole, I drove down the fairway and it hit a sprinkler head, which ricocheted it down the fairway, but through the fairway, in probably the worst lie I’ve had the whole week in the rough. I hacked a wedge, I was trying to fly it on the front edge and it flew a yard short and hit in the kikuyu and stopped and had probably 50 feet. From the tee I thought it would be a mile down the fairway and it actually went another four or five yards in the rough. So it was lucky and unlucky.

Q. Do you think the weather conditions were a factor?

FRED COUPLES: Yeah, I saw Calcavecchia’s name up there and I think he had a good round and some of the other guys. Overcast is always easy to play in. Early tee times on the West Coast, so tomorrow we’ll be playing I guess a little later, 10:30, so you are not out there at two o’clock playing harder greens.

So the scoring is going to be better just because of what time we play and the sun not coming out to dry or make the greens harder.

Q. After seeing you at poppy last week, talking about the six-hour rounds and the grind, even though it’s fun, I’m curious how tired you were coming into this weekend, because you love this place so much, was it almost the ideal place to have to come to?

FRED COUPLES: I missed the cut so I didn’t play Sunday or Monday or Tuesday.

You know, this is my fifth week in a row, which I ended up playing at Pebble Beach with Justin Timberlake. I wasn’t going to play there so I threw that in there. I had a lot of rest and I feel good. I have one more day and then I’ll probably have a month off.

So tomorrow if I can go out — to have a shot at winning is going to be a lot of fun. I don’t know if they are still going under par or what’s leading. But I know I’m going to need another 65 or 66 to have a shot at winning, I’m sure.

Q. Are you planning a month off?

FRED COUPLES: Yes.

Q. Is there something about this course that lends itself to guys with a lot of experience? Tommy Armour, 49, he’s on the leaderboard and you and Calcavecchia.

FRED COUPLES: I can speak for myself. I think the things that I have done well here is I’m a pretty good iron player. I hit a lot of greens, and the greens here are awfully small, overall.

You know, you can get away with some drives that are in the rough because the rough is not up, or up — I guess it all depends on what kind of lie you get on this kind of grass but most of them are a pretty good lie.

The older guys that have played here a bunch, some of the greens, you know, they look like they are breaking left and they break right. Even I miss putts not because of my stroke; just because I misread them after 25 or 26 years of doing it.

But speaking for me, I can walk around there and not pay any attention at all, and maybe that’s why I’m doing well; because I’ve played the course so many times.

Q. A hundred rounds; surprising?

FRED COUPLES: Yeah. Yeah. So I haven’t missed — you know, these are places, I wish I had won a lot more times here, but I’ve had a lot of chances. But I think it’s a phenomenal course. You can play really, really well and shoot 70, and you can come out the next day and shoot 65 or 66 and do the same thing.

It’s just because the greens are so small. When you hit a really good iron, you’re going to be ten or 12 feet.

Q. Are you discouraged at all when you walk in and see Phil running off some birdies and putting some distance between you guys?

FRED COUPLES: What is he now? 15? He started at 8?

Q. 7.

FRED COUPLES: So he’s 8-under. Yeah, that’s a phenomenal round.
So am I surprised? I don’t know how to answer; surprised that he’s 8-under? A little bit. Surprised that he’s leading? No.

Q. Not surprised. I don’t know if you knew where he was when you finished.

FRED COUPLES: When I finished, I think the most I saw maybe was Sabbatini at 12.

Q. Is it discouraging at all?

FRED COUPLES: I didn’t catch that part. Discouraging? Yes. (Laughter).
This is my big day tomorrow to have a shot at winning. I don’t want these guys being 19-under. (Laughter).

But when I was coming down in the cart, I was telling the guy, I thought maybe another 6-under might do it. Might need 9-under. I have had 62 here.

But discouraging in a fun way. I love all of these guys to death. If I can’t win, I’d rather some guy shoot 64s and 65s every round to win. And I’m on my last leg here.

Q. Talking about your love of the golf course, and the great architecture, on 10, you laid up very far to the right. Can you talk about how you approach the 10th hole all the time, and why you played that shot today?

FRED COUPLES: I shanked that shot today. (Laughter).
But to be honest with you, every day I try and go further left than people think. And very rarely do I hit driver there.

But over the years, I’ve played it really, really well. And I try and go this way.

And today in my mind, I knew where the pin was and I tried to go further to the right and then I told myself even further, and I just kind of luckily was in the fairway. If it had gone another yard to the right in the rough, I would have had no shot. But I hit a great little 75-yard shot in there to stop it. But that’s a tough, tough hole.

Q. You said last leg; what is the plan now?

FRED COUPLES: My plan is to play the TOUR this year, play later on in the year with some guys that may have a shot at making The Presidents Cup team and enjoy that, and then October, try and be the captain of the winning team, and then the next day I fly to Houston to play in the Champions Tour event.

Q. And how many regular events in the years ahead, next year?

FRED COUPLES: You know, I would like to play a little bit on the West Coast. But after that, unless things change here in the next six months; but the first four weeks have been a little bit scary with my golf game.

Q. But you’ll play here next year?

FRED COUPLES: I would hope to, yes.

Q. If they didn’t give the exemption to Ishikawa?

FRED COUPLES: He probably will deserve it more than me. But maybe I won’t need the exemption. Maybe I can finish in the Top-125 one more time.

JOHN BUSH: Fred, should be fun tomorrow. Play well.

Fred will tee off at 11:57 AM (Eastern) today with Robert Allenby and Matt Kuchar. The third round will air on CBS from 3-6 PM Eastern.

The round was a roller coaster for Fred, who opened with a birdie, then double bogeyed the second hole. He would go on to birdie 5 of his last 8, including the last two. He capped his round by rolling in a 7 footer for birdie on the 18th.

Fred, who won this tournament in 1990 and 1992 when it was the Los Angeles Open, has stated that Riviera and Augusta are his two favorite courses on tour. Fred nearly won this tournament in 2006, playing in the final pairing. A final round 71, which included some miscues near the end, dropped him to fourth place.

Fred gave a brief interview after the round.

Q. Fred, eight birdies, 4-under par, you have to feel good about that?

FRED COUPLES: I did not know that. I figured it could be a little bit of a boost. I made a lot of putts, but missed a couple short ones. Hit the ball solid; I’ll take 4 under any day.

Q. What is it about this golf course that makes you feel so good?

FRED COUPLES: First, the people. My first few years on TOUR, it reminded me a lot of Seattle, small greens. We don’t have many courses like this in Seattle, but small, teeny greens, which is what I grew up on. Hitting a lot of greens is one of my strengths, and I’ve always played well here, whether it was an 8th-place finish or a 20th-place finish, won a couple of times.

I just think I feel good on the course, even I’m 49 years old, I feel like I can go out and play it well every single time. It doesn’t mean I’m going to shoot 67.

Q. 49 is not all that old.

FRED COUPLES: It’s old for this place. Everywhere I look, there are people I just played with Nick Watney and he won. I just played with Dustin Johnson and he goes and wins. These guys are great, great players, and young and fun to be around. As you know, I’ve got six more months left of this, so I’d better enjoy it.
I’ll take eight birdies the next two days, maybe.

Fred will tee off the 10th hole on Friday at 3:22 PM Eastern with Charley Hoffman and Chris DiMarco.

Wrapping up the week, Geoff Shackelford reports on the advantage that the opening round players with early/late tee times had this year. Geoff points out that Couples -2 showing, despite having the opposite tee time configuration, was rather remarkable.

Fred also changed putters this week.

His new putter is 44 inches long. Couples picked it up from putter-maker Rick Hamilton of San Diego in time to play the Wednesday pro-am at Riviera.

That’s about 1 1/2 inches longer than the one Couples used to use.
…

It’s a got an ounce of tungsten, a metal, in the back heel and toe to stabilize the putter through the hitting area. Plus, it’s supposed to sound better on impact and improve the feel.

It’s a prototype. Meanwhile, Couples is a proven commodity.

An article by Yahoo! Sports reporter Martin Rogers gives a little update after Saturday’s round, including the usual commentary on Fred’s back.

Too bad the Masters isn’t this week.

“If I could play next week at Augusta, I’d feel pretty good about playing well,” Couples said.

And finally, like Augusta, Fred wants to continue to return to Riviera for as long as they’ll have him. He even throws in a classic Fred-ism.

“I have two more years I hope,” he said, “and then next year when I’m 50, I don’t know where the seniors are. If they give me a spot (in the Northern Trust), I’d rather play here than a senior event. So I’ll be here a couple more years at least. It’s my favorite course. I’m not going to not.”

Not going to not?

“I’m not going to not play,” he replied. “They are going to have to keep me from not playing.”

Where will Fred show up next? Hard to say. He won’t be playing in this week’s event in Mexico. Next week is the World Match Play event, which he is not qualified for. The next best guess would be the week of February 28th through March 2nd at the Honda Classic, but that’s at a fairly demanding course so if he isn’t healthy, it could be longer. Perhaps Bay Hill in the middle of March or even all the way to Houston, the week before the Masters.

Join the forum discussion on this post

Fred will start the day eight shots behind leader Phil Mickelson, who fired a 64 on a day when few good scores were to be had. Second place is held by two players at -6. Fred is only two shots out of the top ten currently.

A few golfers were unable to complete their round due to darkness, so third round tee times have not been announced yet.

Starting his round on the great short par 4 tenth hole, Fred put his second shot to 3 feet and converted the putt for a 3. He would also birdie the short par 5 first hole and the long par 4 ninth, his final hole of the day. The ninth saw Fred put his second shot from 201 yards off the green to 4 feet.

Fred tees off in the second round at 11:08 AM Eastern from the first hole.

Follow along with other Fred fans in his second round on the forum.

Thursday: 10th tee, 3:43 PM (Eastern)
Friday: 1st tee, 11:08 AM (Eastern)

Playing partners: Steve Lowery and Daniel Chopra

Golf World’s Tim Rosaforte reports that Fred will skip Pebble and will return to play in Los Angeles at one of his favorite courses – Riviera Country Club for the Northern Trust Open.

In addition to that news, Rosaforte reports much more in depth with an update, following on the heels of Jamie Diaz’s Golf Digest article.

Four shots back of the leader at the beginning of the day, Fred quickly took advantage of Rory Sabbatini’s difficulties on the greens to reduce the lead to two shots at the turn. Then, on the back side, the man birdied the par-5 11th hole and watched Sabbatini miss a par putt on the every next hole; Couples was tied for the lead at -13.

To many Fred fans, the turning point occured at the 13th hole. Couples had an 8-feet putt for birdie while Sabbatini was struggling to earn his par. Fred left his putt short while Sabbatini made his, and the man never felt the same after this moment.

After back-to-back bogeys at 15 and 16, Couples missed his long approach to the par-5 17th hole and settled for par. Two shots back with one hole to go, Fred needed a birdie and a bogey from Sabbatini to enter a playoff, but that scenario never happened. Couples finished fourth with a cumulative of -10, and an even par round for the day.

This is without a doubt a very frustrating day for Fred fans. But in reality, it is the first time since the 1998 season that Couples is a contender that early in the season. The man has improved his putting and hits a lot of greens in regulation. In fact, this will probably be a very exciting year for Couples. We must all remember that after the 2005 Presidents Cup, Fred told the press that he was planning on making the Ryder Cup team on points. By collecting top-5′s on a regular basis like he did at the Nissan Open, there is no doubt he could represent the United States again.

Fred is playing again this week at the Match Play Championship. While the rankings are not official yet, there is a strong probability that the man will play Mike Weir in the first round. Stay tuned!