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For many of us, it’s hard to believe that Fred Couples, the coolest guy in golf for the past 35 years or so, has hit the big 6-0. Except for his back, which went bad prematurely, Couples has seemed perpetually young even as his thick shock of hair has been salted with gray, writes Ron Green Jr., who sat down with Couples last week at the PGA Tour Champions’ SAS Championship to discuss his past and his future.
Lanto Griffin, a 31-year-old Virginia journeyman who recently began his second stint as a PGA Tour member, won the Houston Open on Sunday, edging Mark Hubbard and Scott Harrington by a stroke at the Golf Club of Houston.
Harrington, a 38-year-old PGA Tour rookie, was counting his blessings after his near miss in Houston, which came a little more than a year after he took a leave from competitive golf to help care for his wife, Jennifer, in her battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, who spent most of 2018 on the sidelines nursing an injured wrist, won the Italian Open in Rome on Sunday, edging England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick for his third European Tour victory and second Rolex Series triumph of 2019.
More than 100 golfers, including Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Ernie Els and Justin Thomas, participated in the Bahamas Strong Pro-Am last Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The tournament, which was spearheaded by Justin Leonard and Brad Faxon, has raised $1.4 million and counting for relief efforts in the Bahamas in the wake of the catastrophic damage wrought by Hurricane Dorian last month, writes Sean Fairholm.
Rory McIlroy’s recent comments about European Tour course setups not being tough enough highlight the reality that golf has arrived at the point where the kind of course required at the top no longer bears any resemblance to what is needed by the majority, writes Lewine Mair.
Mark Fuller didn’t make the 36-hole cut in the recent Senior PGA Professional Championship. However, he did cross the biggest hurdle of all – survival – months before arriving at the national championship.
J. Fred Silver, a 29-time club champion at Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston, N.Y., and a driving force behind the Porter Cup, died unexpectedly last Tuesday at 74 and will be remembered as the consummate golf gentleman, writes Cassie Stein.
Trent and Tyler Leon, brothers who played on Oklahoma State’s 2006 NCAA Championship team, won the weather-shortened Charlie Coe Invitational in a one-hole playoff last Wednesday at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colo.
A love for the game can emerge in myriad ways, including racing the sun in pursuit of a personal best, this week’s installment of The Divot explains.
Mike Cullity
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