Perry, Couples score one for the old guys

They love to talk about the “Young Guns,” the twentysomethings, “Generation Next,” the new talent on the PGA Tour, so it should be to the surprise of no one that right there in the mix of the first day of the Players Championship, you’ve got a couple of guys who should probably start checking their mailbox for their AARP cards.

Sure, eight of the 20 winners so far this year have been in their 20s, but there at Sawgrass today were 47-year-old Kenny Perry shooting a four-under 68 and 48-year-old Fred Couples coming up with a two-under 70.

Paul Goydos, who turns 44 in a couple of months, reached four-under as well, and said he’s not sure how he came up with it.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “Skipping 18 was a good idea, though.”

And speaking of this particular age group, we’re not even mentioning Steve Elkington, 45, who got off to a quick start with a three-under 69.

Elkington probably has a pair of saddle shoe spikes older than last week’s winner.

That would be Anthony Kim, 22, who won at the Wachovia and was born in 1985, the same year that Couples won the Tournament Players Championship – the first incarnation of the current Players.

In fact, Couples has been playing the Players for a quarter of a century, and is celebrating his 25th trip to Sawgrass.

That’s something worth noting, he said.

“I’ve got one more in me, maybe,” Couples said. “Then I’m done.”

It’s probably worth noting that the trend toward youthful winners is just that, a trend. Not that long ago, it was the old guys who were mopping up, a resurgence led by Vijay Singh, carrying the standard for the fortysomethings.

Couples is squarely in that group, although in a couple of years, he’s going to be slipping out of it. But his last victory was at Houston five years ago when he was 43, cementing his reputation as a gray-haired guru.

Until this year, Couples had never missed the cut at the Masters, staying for the weekend all 23 times he had played, and even winning it in 1992.

No one, not even Couples, is expecting him to blow everybody out of the tub this week at Sawgrass, but there’s nothing wrong with playing great when your sore back lies to you and tells you it’s really not as old as it feels.

“I don’t feel as good as I did earlier in the year, but I feel better than I have in a long time,” he said.

Exactly what Couples means is open to interpretation. He does know one thing, though, and that’s the end of his regular days on the PGA Tour is coming up quickly.

“It’s about all coming to an end, though,” he said. “Another Memorial and then I’ll be in the pits.

“I’m swinging OK without too much pain, whereas three months ago, two months ago, I could do a lot of – it sounds funny – but get a haircut, go to the dentist, where I could just sit. Now I can’t sit still very long. But that’s OK. As long as I don’t feel horrible, I can play.”

Fifteen times a champion on the PGA Tour, Couples may not have another chance, but today at Sawgrass, he scored one for the old guys.

 thomas.bonk@latimes.com