Couples: Great Expectations : Golf: He makes playing look easy but winning look hard--except in the L.A. Open. He begins defense of his title today.

The swing is so smooth it seems almost effortless. It is the envy of amateurs and even some professionals.

Fred Couples is one of the game’s elite players, consistently high on the money list, a member of the Ryder Cup team in 1989 and, probably, again this year.

Yet, some people say that he’s an underachiever, a player who should have won more than four tournaments in an 11-year career.

Couples, the defending champion of the Nissan Los Angeles Open that begins today at Riviera Country Club, has heard that evaluation far too often.

Easygoing off the course, Couples, 31, realizes it is difficult to perform consistently to others’ expectations.

“I think I will be a much better player in five to 10 years than I have been,” saidCouples, noting that Tom Kite and Lanny Wadkins are winning at 41.

“My problem is that I haven’t won as many times as other people think I should.

“I don’t consider myself the greatest player in the world. But I think I can play with anyone. And someday, when I learn how to play like I did here (last year), I’ll be in great shape. But until I do that. . . .”

In near-perfect weather, Couples won last year’s L.A. Open by three strokes over Gil Morgan. Couples shot a course record-tying 62 in the third round and had a 54-hole score of 197, 16 under par and a tournament record.

That victory stifled some of the criticism that he doesn’t always play to his potential.

Yet, the underachiever label lingers.

“I’m not lazy. I play to win,” Couples said. “I don’t practice like a Tom Kite. But I don’t play a tournament unless I’m prepared. I don’t need to make the cut and make (only) $2,500.

“I can’t tell you that I go to win them (all), because I’ve played 11 years and won four times. But I go to play as best as I can. It’s not that I don’t try.”

He conceded, however, there are times when he doesn’t even want to be on a course.

“If you’re playing on Saturday and you’re way back and you don’t get anything going, it’s not like every five-footer is the U.S. Open,” Couples said.

“A lot of times, I’ve hit some bad shots at the wrong times, and other times I’ve played really, really well and the next guy played better.

“You get in stretches. I seem to play good a lot of times. When I do have a good stretch, someone like Lanny or Curtis (Strange) would win, where I don’t.

“I like to play well, and it eats at me when I don’t win. It comes to the point that I know why, and I just need to improve.

“My impression of golf is to enjoy it. When I play well, I do have a good time. I’m not Lee Trevino, though, and show it. When I play bad, I’m disgusted.

“If you’re not in contention, you wonder why and are thinking about a million other things. I just like to have good stretches and play good, get away and take some time off.”

Couples has been nicknamed “Boom Boom” because of his prodigious drives.

Yet, he said he is now striving more for accuracy than distance.

“I pretty much do things differently than others,” he said. “I have a strong grip, which you wouldn’t teach anyone. I think the big myth is that I have a long, slow swing and hit the ball far.

“I would rather have a shorter swing, which I’m working on, and not hit the ball as far. I’m trying to be more accurate, and if I’m accurate, I’m a much better player. Tom Kite would like to hit the ball farther, but he would give up his accuracy.”

Couples said his biggest thrill came in last year’s PGA championship, when he hit every fairway in the first round.

“I think I could win 20 times a year if I hit every fairway,” he said.

His putter betrayed him in that tournament--which he led until the final six holes--denying him the opportunity to win his first major championship.

“It’s all mental,” Couples said. “I need to play the last few holes like I do the first few. I have a tendency to let so much build up. You can’t miss a shot and, when you do, people ask why and there’s really no answer.”

Couples said that golf came easily to him while growing up in Seattle.

That’s to his advantage. The disadvantage is that he is perceived as someone who should be more dominant in a game that isn’t dominated by anyone.

Unfair? Of course. But that’s golf.

Golf Notes

The purse for the L.A. Open is $1 million, with the winner receiving $180,000. . . . Twenty-five of last year’s top 30 money winners are in the field. Former L.A. Open champions competing are Tom Watson (1980, ‘82), Dave Stockton (1974), Hale Irwin (1976), Tom Purtzer (1977), Gil Morgan (1978, ‘83), Lanny Wadkins (1979, ‘85), Dave Edwards (1984), Doug Tewell (1986), Chip Beck (1988), Mark Calcavecchia (1989) and Fred Couples. . . . Arnold Palmer was the last player to win consecutive L.A. Open championships (1966, ‘67).

“I like the place,” said Couples of Riviera. “You have to be good with your irons because the greens are small. You can’t chip a whole lot because of the kikuyu grass. Last year (at Riviera) was the best I ever played.” Couples has earned nearly $100,000 this year. He tied for third in the Tournament of Champions at La Costa and was fifth in the Bob Hope tournament, his best finishes in five events.

Mac O’Grady got into the L.A. Open by shooting an eight-under-par 66 at the Los Serranos Golf Club in Chino Friday in a pretournament qualifying event. He tied for second in the 1988 L.A. Open but lost his tour card in 1989 after an injury-plagued season.

Couples had the low professional round with a five-under-par 66 in Wednesday’s pro-am. Calcavecchia’s team won the event with a net 53.