A Break, an Eagle and a Victory for Couples

Fred Couples followed the ball’s flight toward the 16th green at The Players Championship with anxious eyes.

Almost with each yard it gained on its goal it slipped another inch closer to the water hugging the right side of the par-five.

As it slowly drifted closer to disaster, the huge pro-Couples gallery held its breath until the ball bounced once in the wet rough only two paces from the water and stopped, likely saved by the days of rain that softened the TPC Stadium Course at Sawgrass.

“Yeah,” Couples said when asked if he thought the ball was in the water. “I’m not going to kid anyone.”

But dry it was and Couples showed the youngsters who dotted the leaderboard all week how a veteran takes advantage of a gamble gained.

He rolled in the 30-foot eagle putt and followed it with a 25-foot birdie putt on the treacherous island-green 17th hole and closed with an overpowering 64 on Sunday to finish at 18-under-par 270, four strokes better than Colin Montgomerie and Tommy Tolles.

“It wasn’t a bad shot,” Couples, who won $630,000, said about the 220-yard two-iron on No. 16. “It just turned out lucky.”

Montgomerie and Tolles were not as lucky.

Montgomerie, playing two groups behind Couples, knew the eagle had put Couples at 17 under par, a stroke ahead of Montgomerie.

“It all hinged on 16,” Montgomerie said after finishing with a 68, his eighth consecutive round under par this year. “I heard Freddy’s cheer. I had to go for the shot. I took it on and I got wet, unfortunately.”

His 232-yard three-wood splashed in the water, ending his chances.

Tolles, four groups behind Couples, was also still in contention at No. 16. But his drive picked up a chunk of mud off the wet fairway and he yanked his two-iron left, bouncing it off a tree. Still, he got his 40-yard approach to about 10 feet but missed the birdie putt.

It was the 12th victory for Couples, who has been hampered by back problems the last two years, and his first since the 1994 Buick Open.

Couples’ 64 was the lowest finishing score ever in The Players Championship and it was only a stroke off the course record he shares with Greg Norman.

“It was the best round of golf I’ve played in a long, long time,” Couples said. “I missed about a two-foot birdie putt on No. 11 and I just said, ‘I’m tired of this.’ ”

Rocco Mediate finished with six consecutive birdies and was tied for fourth at 13-under 275 with Fuzzy Zoeller, Kenny Perry and David Duval. Tom Lehman and Grant Waite were another stroke back at 276.