Fred Couples fires new course record for historic victory

Fred Couples made Champions Tour history today at the Punta Espada golf club, winning The Cap Cana Championship with a record score of 195, 21-under par, for a two shot victory over Corey Pavin.  
Couples put on a display of golf worthy of a Renoir, painting broad brushstrokes of artistry over the 7,170-yard, par-72 course and winning in stunning fashion.
Couples broke the one-day-old course record with an 11-birdie, one-bogey 62 and became the first Champions Tour player to win three straight tournaments with sub-200 totals for 54 holes.

Fred Couples made Champions Tour history today at the Punta Espada golf club, winning The Cap Cana Championship with a record score of 195, 21-under par, for a two shot victory over Corey Pavin.  
Couples put on a display of golf worthy of a Renoir, painting broad brushstrokes of artistry over the 7,170-yard, par-72 course and winning in stunning fashion.
Couples broke the one-day-old course record with an 11-birdie, one-bogey 62 and became the first Champions Tour player to win three straight tournaments with sub-200 totals for 54 holes.

It was Couples’ third consecutive win in a row, tying Jay Haas’s 2006 record and it also made him the first player to win three times in his first four starts, passing the previous best-start record held by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
Even more remarkably Couples is averaging 18.25 strokes under par per start with a final round scoring average is 63.75.
Couples began the day two strokes behind Corey Pavin and one back of Nick Price and turned the final round of this $1.6 million event into a shootout of epic proportions.
Pavin would eventually finish second at a sparkling 66 and 197 total, the victim of a bad break when his second shot at the par 4 14th hole hit a greenside sprinkler-head and bounced 60 yards over the green into a waste area.  He was unable to recover and made a bogey, losing the lead for the first time since the seventh hole.
“I did a lot of things that were very good out there today,” said Pavin, who made an eagle via a chip-in at the par-5 sixth hole to tie for the lead, five birdies and one bogey, “and one bad break does not make a tournament, but it doesn’t help any.”

Lefty Russ Cochran, never a factor in the chase for first place, finished with 67 and 202, good enough for solo third.  Price, who shot himself out of contention with a watery approach shot and double bogey at the 15th hole, shot 71 and finished tied for fourth at 13-under-par 203 with Tom Pernice Jr. (67) and Bernhard Langer (67).
“It was an unbelievable day,” said Couples who made five birdies in a row from the second through sixth hole.  “The first six or seven holes, there was an eagle, birdies and putts going in from everywhere.”
Couples ran off five more birdies in a row from the 11th through 15th holes and maintained a one-shot lead over Pavin when both birdied the par-5 15th.  Of his 11 birdies only one came from outside 30 feet and eight came from inside 15 or less. A final birdie at the par-4 17th, coupled with three Pavin pars to end the round, signaled a two-stroke victory for Couples.

“I had a great stretch of golf in 1992,” said Couples who won three tournaments, including the Masters, in a two month period then, “but I must say that these four weeks on the Champions Tour I’m not missing many shots.”
This week the course really suited my game,” added Couples. “I was able to use my length off the tee to advantage and I really like the style of approach shots these green require.
“The Cap Cana Championship is one of our top three tournaments of the year and to win at Punta Espada, on one of Jack Nicklaus’ best golf courses ever, really makes it special. For the past two months everyone has been telling me that this is an extraordinarily beautiful place and now I’ve seen what they mean.
“A great course in great condition with the big galleries we had for the last round, it all made for a fun day.”