ABC Viewers: Get Ready for Freddie

Fred Couples is in Switzerland this week with his family, enjoying the sights and perhaps even warming up his vocal cords with a few yodels to prepare himself for his role as a guest commentator at Monday night’s “Battle at the Bridges” prime-time golf outing on ABC.

This is the second time that Couples has found a place in the booth to offer his insight, but it’s his first prime-time appearance. Couples made his debut a year ago on ESPN for the Mercedes Championships at Kapalua, where he worked with Ian Baker-Finch, who heard enough to become a full-fledged fan of Couples.

In fact, Baker-Finch said he wouldn’t presume to offer any broadcasting advice to Couples, despite his relative inexperience in the field. Freddie should be Freddie, said Baker-Finch, and that’s what people want to hear.

A lot of voices will be heard during the telecast of the match between Tiger Woods-Hank Kuehne and Phil Mickelson-John Daly, and chances are that the one belonging to Couples will turn out to be the most intriguing of the bunch.

Not only will the four players wear microphones, but there are going to be so many other guys talking, it might sound like another political convention. They include Mike Tirico, Baker-Finch and Andy North, plus comedian George Lopez, who is intentionally funny, and finally Couples, who is unintentionally funny.

There are many stories that illustrate Couples’ quirky sense of humor and reflect his personality, which would be down-home if he didn’t get lost driving there.

For instance, when he was introduced in a pre-tournament news conference in March as the 1993 Honda champion, Couples said, “Is that why I’m here? Why am I in here? I’m still trying to figure it out.”

That was the same week when Couples was asked about David Duval’s marriage and said: “Everybody gets married. And people don’t get married.”

At the Buick Classic, he said confusion is far from underrated: “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but basically that’s a good thing.”

As the defending champion at Houston, Couples said it’s often a difficult position because everyone knows who he is and he sometimes gets mixed up. Said Fred: “It drives you nuts because you can’t remember your own name when you’re out there trying to hit a shot and you’re thinking, ‘Is it Carl or is it Bob?’ ”

He once said he doesn’t answer the phone at home because somebody might be at the other end.

Last year at the Players Championship, Couples said he still had it on the golf course because he could still come out and drive himself nuts.

Obviously, Couples is perfect for the booth.

Since Curtis Strange abruptly left the booth at ABC, there has been an opening for someone to provide commentary on the pro golf tour. So far, there has been a revolving door of auditions -- Corey Pavin at the Buick Classic, then Paul Azinger at the Western Open and Nick Faldo at the British Open. Hal Sutton is a semi-regular and will wind up doing nine events for ABC by the end of the year.

Couples is on record saying he doesn’t want to quit playing to work as a commentator, but he’d be great, probably just as great at talking about golf as he has been playing it for the last 24 years. The 1992 Masters champion still knows how to win, judging by his four-shot victory last year at Houston.

In the meantime, the numbers add up, if Couples wants to take a look at them. Strange was 41 and hadn’t won since the second of his back-to-back U.S. Opens in 1989 when he started his seven-year run as ABC’s top commentator. Couples will be 45 the first week of October.

Couples always has made golf look easy, but talking about it on live television is something entirely different. As for content, Couples wouldn’t have any trouble being honest, but he also would have to be candid to the point of criticism and that’s probably an area where he wouldn’t feel entirely comfortable.

He doesn’t have to be Johnny Miller, just Fred Couples. Maybe it’s something he should consider, as long as nobody calls him on his home phone to talk about it. Somebody might be on the other end.