
The Vault
Every SI Story ... Every SI Photo ... Ever SI.COM/VAULT
EXCERPT | April 8, 1996
Easy As T-P-C
Laid-back Fred Couples cruised to victory at Sawgrass
Trailing journeyman Tommy Tolles by four strokes entering the final round of the Players Championship, Couples shot 64 to win his first PGA Tour event in two years. Rick Reilly reported for SI.
You get the feeling Fred Couples rolls out of bed looking like Dr. Cliff Truelove on Days of Our Children. He is the sort who could make a Hefty 40-gallon trash bag look like something by After Six. Happy and unhurriable, he is a kind of Winnie the Pooh in cleats, ambling along, life coming easily and in bunches. His swing is slower than the last day of school, holes jump in the way of his golf balls, and money knocks on doors to find him. He is allergic to practice yet has 17 tournament wins worldwide, including a Masters.
Tommy Tolles, on the other hand, looks like a walking antacid commercial. He is only 29, but his worried, coal-black eyes are dark-rimmed, and his eyebrows bend toward his nose like a stock-market plunge. Clothes hang awkwardly on his flagstick body, and he has a barber-school haircut that gives him that just-shaved Anthony Perkins look. He must practice constantly, has won the Nike Ozarks Classic and last year finished 116th on the Tour money list. Before that he spent seven years trying to scrape out a living on the discount tours with a frenetic swing that ends up with his arms wrapped around him like a straitjacket. If rain is expected, it will fall on Tommy Tolles.
Yet there they were on Sunday, golf's Cary Grant and Arnold Stang, one shot apart with three holes to play at the year's biggest tournament so far, the near-major cashfest known as the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Couples has 15 PGA wins; Tolles—last on Tour in 2005—has none.
SI.COM | Breaking News | Real-time Scores | Daily Analysis
NFL
MLB
Horse Racing
Editor's Choice
2011 NFL Mock Draft
SI.com's Andrew Perloff gets a head start on next year's top prospects
The top of the 2011 first round could hinge on whether Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck bolts after his junior year. Because Luck isn't necessarily the best QB in this draft, we'll assume he's returning to school, possibly leaving the No. 1 spot open for the Seahawks to choose another big-armed quarterback: Arkansas's Ryan Mallett(above). The former Michigan quarterback threw for 30 touchdowns in 2009, his first season as a starter for the Razorbacks, and has the most NFL-desirable skills in this deep QB class.
Featured Stories
BACK IN THE GROOVE
By Ann Killion
Barry Zito looks like the Cy Young Award--winning pitcher he once was
CHANGING THE GAME
By Michael Rosenberg
Brandon Knight gets a commitment from Kentucky minus letter of intent
SAME O'S STORY
By Tom Verducci
Young talent like Nick Markakis hasn't stopped the Orioles' woes
Online Cover Gallery
Pre-Tiger Titans
1989
Nick Faldo overcame Augusta National's nasty weather—four days of bitter cold and icy rain—to earn his first Masters championship.
1990
Hale Irwin, a former All--Big Eight defensive back at Colorado, won his third U.S. Open after dueling with Mike Donald through 19 playoff holes.
1993
Greg Norman, playing at Royal St. Georges, won his second British Open title seven years after he won his first.
GALLERIES
Super Saver Kentucky Derby
Jaroslav Halak NHL Playoffs
Mo Williams NBA Playoffs
TUNE IN TO THE PLAYERS.
Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller have the call from Ponte Vedra on Saturday and Sunday (2 to 7 p.m. EDT, both days), as Henrik Stenson looks to defend his 2009 title. For video of the 1996 Players, won by Fred Couples, go to si.com/vault
PHOTO
Photograph by JACQUELINE DUVOISIN
STILL WATERS After coolly draining a 25-foot eagle putt to take a one-stroke lead, Couples had the gallery's undivided attention when he teed off at 17.
PHOTO
HEINZ KLUETMEIER
PHOTO
JOHN IACONO
PHOTO
JACQUELINE DUVOISIN
PHOTO
GARY BOGDON (MALLETT)
PHOTO
LOU CAPOZZOLA (HALAK)
PHOTO
HEINZ KLUETMEIER (DERBY)
PHOTO
BOB ROSATO (WILLIAMS)
PHOTO
AL TIELEMANS (ZITO)
PHOTO
SCOTT W. GRAU/SOUTHCREEK GLOBAL (KNIGHT)
PHOTO
SIMON BRUTY (MARKAKIS)
PHOTO
ILLUSTRATION