Couples celebrates another birdie (Getty Images).
By PA Sport Staff
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Fred Couples earned an emotional win in front of thousands of adoring fans at
the Houston Open, birdying four of the last five holes to end a five-year title
drought.
The former world number one carded a five-under-par 67 to record a 72-hole
total of 21-under 267 and a four-stroke victory over playing partner Mark
Calcavecchia, Hank Kuehne and Australian Stuart Appleby.
After closing the tournament with a 10-foot birdie putt, Couples accepted
congratulations from Calcavecchia, then broke down in tears while thanking his
wife, Thais, and his coach, Butch Harmon.
"I am always emotional when nice things happen to nice people," he said.
Couples had gone 87 starts without a victory, dating back to the 1998
Memorial.
He has 15 titles overall, including the 1984 and 1996 Players Championship and
the 1992 Masters.
"I haven't played really well in five years, and I worked hard on my game,
and it meshed," Couples said. "And to win, it's a great bonus for (caddie)
Joey and myself and my wife and his family, but I have a lot of people to
thank.
"That's kind of what was going through my mind. Didn't get it out very
well."
His win was worth over £500,000, which pushed Couples into the top 10 on the
money list.
He has not finished a season higher than 47th since 1998, when he was ninth.
Couples, who is 12th on the all-time money list with over £9million, began the
week ranked 77th in the world.
In 1992, he was ranked first for 16 weeks, sandwiching the near year-long
reigns of Nick Price and Ian Woosnam.
The 43-year-old also became the first University of Houston product to win the
event, which began in 1946.
Jay Haas - one of four 40-somethings in the top six - was fifth, five strokes
off the pace on 272.
Jeff Maggert placed sixth at 273, a shot lower than John Daly and Geoff Ogilvy
of Australia.
Final scores and totals (Par 72, USA unless stated):
267 Fred Couples 65-68-67-67
271 Hank Kuehne 69-64-72-66, Mark Calcavecchia 68-65-68-70, Stuart Appleby
(Aus) 66-70-66-69
272 Jay Haas 67-67-70-68
273 Jeff Maggert 71-66-72-64
275 Geoff Ogilvy 70-69-68-68, John Daly 69-69-67-70
276 Steve Flesch 72-66-67-71, Vijay Singh 67-68-70-71, Kevin Sutherland
69-70-67-70, Peter Jacobsen 67-71-69-69
277 John Riegger 70-68-67-72, Carlos Franco (Par) 73-67-68-69, David
Sutherland 69-67-68-73, Scott McCarron 69-68-67-73
278 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70-68-65-75, Briny Baird 67-71-68-72, Ernie Els
(Rsa) 69-69-69-71, Robert Gamez 71-66-67-74
279 Chad Campbell 68-72-67-72, Garrett Willis 72-68-69-70, Darron Stiles
70-70-67-72, Greg Chalmers 73-68-64-74, Paul Stankowski 69-66-71-73, Alexander
Cejka (Ger) 70-70-66-73, Bob May 69-68-69-73
280 Olin Browne 67-70-69-74, Jim Carter 71-69-68-72, Phil Mickelson
70-69-68-73
281 Arron Oberholser 69-69-71-72, Ben Curtis 72-69-70-70, Kenneth Staton
69-70-70-72, Thomas Levet (Fra) 72-68-70-71, Jeff Brehaut 69-71-67-74, Jerry
Kelly 69-69-71-72, Shaun Micheel 70-69-69-73, Tom Pernice Jr 66-70-71-74
282 Heath Slocum 70-70-73-69, Ben Crane 69-69-69-75, Cameron Beckman
69-72-69-72, Tom Byrum 71-70-72-69, Marco Dawson 71-70-66-75
283 Brian Bateman 74-67-70-72, John Senden 71-70-70-72, Ian Leggatt
68-69-71-75, Fred Funk 69-69-70-75, Patrick Sheehan 68-73-70-72
284 Richard S. Johnson 70-70-73-71, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 68-71-68-77, Hidemichi
Tanaka (Jpn) 70-71-71-72, David Toms 70-66-73-75, Robert Damron 70-70-73-71,
David Berganio Jr 67-73-72-72, Paul Goydos 69-72-69-74, Justin Leonard
71-67-72-74, David Peoples 66-70-75-73
285 Tom Gillis 71-70-68-76, Rory Sabbatini 68-70-69-78
286 Brandt Jobe 68-71-69-78, Neal Lancaster 69-71-69-77, Andrew Magee
68-69-73-76
287 Harrison Frazar 70-68-75-74, Woody Austin 69-70-69-79, Dan Forsman
72-69-73-73, Brian Henninger 70-70-73-74
290 Phil Blackmar 70-71-72-77, David Frost 73-68-73-76
292 Carl Paulson 67-74-73-78
297 Jose Coceres (Arg) 67-71-74-85
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