Couch Earns Memorable Title

On the verge of a collapse, Chris Couch tried to stay positive as he stood over a 55-foot chip for par on the 18th hole that he had to get up-and-down simply to get into a playoff in the Zurich Classic at New Orleans.

“I was thinking this would be a great way to win a tournament,” he said. “It would be something I’d remember always.”

Using a rare, cross-handed grip for chipping, Couch watched his lofted pitch land in the right spot and track toward the hole until it disappeared into the cup, a victory so stunning that he thrust his arms in the air and slammed his pitching wedge into the ground in relief.

No way will he ever forget his week in the Big Easy.

It started a week ago Sunday on Bourbon Street when he got lost in the wrong part of town, climbed into a car with the wrong kind of people and wound up running down the streets of New Orleans until he could call police and get safely back to his car.

His heart was pumping just as fast over the final two holes, when he twice nearly threw away his first PGA Tour victory.

After sending his shot from a mud-caked bunker over the green on the par-three 17th, Couch had to make a 12-foot putt to save bogey.

Then came the final act, another bunker shot that didn’t reach the green, and a chip-in for par that gave him a seven-under 65 and a one-shot victory over Charles Howell III and Fred Funk.

Has any winner of this event ever had a week like Couch?

“I doubt it,” he said, Mardi Gras beads draped around his neck. “It’s been an adventure. But it couldn’t have worked out any better.”

Couch finished at 19-under 269 and earned $1.08 million in the first nationally televised sporting event in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

Howell, winless since his only PGA Tour victory four years ago, also thought fate was on his side, but he saw the definition of destiny over the final two holes as Couch twice came through with an incredible escape.

“The finish was unbelievable,” Howell said after a 65. “More so than him holing for par on the last was the bogey made on 17 from the skulled bunker shot. But it’s those things that it takes to win. Chris played great. I hope those two holes there don’t take away from how well he played.”

Funk, the 49-year-old who is two months away from his Champions Tour debut, finished with a 30-foot birdie putt for a 62. He was on the practice range getting ready for a playoff when he heard the roar, but only later did he learn how it ended.

Stuart Appleby, coming off a victory last week in the Houston Open, shot 64 and tied for fourth with Joe Durant (68) and Brett Wetterich (66).

In his first tournament since winning the Masters, Phil Mickelson closed with a 69 and tied for 15th.

Couch became the fourth player to make the cut on the number and win on the PGA Tour. He went from worst to first in the third round, playing early and avoiding 30 mph gusts in the afternoon.

“I would like to make it easier next time,” Couch said. “My heart can’t take much more of this.”

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South Korea’s Mi Hyun Kim closed with a one-under 71 to hold off Lorena Ochoa and Karrie Webb by two strokes in the Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open in Reunion, Fla.

Kim, who won her sixth LPGA Tour title and first since 2002, had a 12-under 276 total. Ochoa finished with a 66 and Webb shot a 67.

Annika Sorenstam (67) was fourth at five under.

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Jay Haas won his second straight Champions Tour title, shooting a seven-under 65 for a two-stroke victory over Tom Kite (68) and England’s Mark James (67) in the FedEx Kinko’s Classic in Lakeway, Texas. It was Haas’ fourth tour title.

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Ken Duke won his first Nationwide Tour title, closing with a four-under 68 for a one-stroke victory over Jess Daley (69) in the BMW Charity Pro-Am at the Cliffs in Travelers Rest, S.C.

Duke had a 13-under 273 total in the three-course event.

TENNIS

Nadal’s Streak Hits 47 in Clay-Court Matches

Defending champion Rafael Nadal defeated Tommy Robredo, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0, to win the Open Seat Godo title in Barcelona, Spain, topping Bjorn Borg’s mark with his 47th straight victory on clay.

Guillermo Vilas holds the open-era record with 53 straight wins.

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Daniele Bracciali upset top-seeded Nicolas Massu, 6-1, 6-4, to win his first ATP singles title at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, Morocco.

MOTOR RACING

Capps Edges Force in Funny Car Race

Funny car points leader Ron Capps raced to his third victory of the year and the 20th of his career, beating John Force by a hundredth of a second in the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, Tenn.

Capps had a 4.793-second run at 319.52 mph in a Dodge Stratus to edge Force, who had a quicker 4.788 seconds at 310.13 mph in a Ford Mustang.

The difference came at the starting line, with Capps leaving in 0.080 of a second to Force’s 0.104 of a second.

Doug Kalitta repeated last year’s Bristol top fuel final by powering to a 4.537-second run at a track-record speed of 331.53 to beat Rod Fuller again for his 25th career victory.

In a battle of Pontiac GTOs, Jason Line earned his ninth pro stock win by edging series leader and teammate Greg Anderson.

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The Nextel Cup Aaron’s 499 was postponed until today in Talladega, Ala., after a one-hour, 40-minute rain delay.

MISCELLANY

Irvine Men Earn First Volleyball Bid

The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team was awarded the at-large berth and the No. 1 seeding in reaching the NCAA championship for the first time beginning Thursday in State College, Pa.

Irvine (27-4) will face fourth-seeded Penn State (20-8) in one semifinal. UCLA (24-12) will play Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (23-6) in the other. The title match will be played Saturday.

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The top-seeded Long Beach State women (21-4) won their third straight Big West tennis championship, 4-0, over second-seeded UC Irvine at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

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Justin Turner and Brandon Tripp each homered and drove in three runs, and Dustin Miller pitched seven strong innings to lead top-ranked Cal State Fullerton (33-11 overall, 10-2 Big West) to an 11-3 victory over UC Riverside (22-17, 4-5) in a Big West Conference baseball game at Goodwin Field in Fullerton.

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Third-seeded Stanford beat fifth-seeded Hawaii, 6-3, in the title match of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women’s water polo championships in Irvine. Second-seeded UCLA beat top-seeded USC, 10-7, in the third-place game.

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Chris Rolfe scored the tiebreaking goal in the 68th minute to lead visiting Chicago (1-1-2) to a 2-1 victory over New England (1-2-1) in Major League Soccer.

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Pyewacket, a maxZ86 donated by Roy Disney to the Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamenship two years ago, was the first overall finisher in the Newport to Ensenada sailing race, covering the 125 nautical miles in light winds in 17 hours 8 minutes 20 seconds.

Max Rosenberg’s Mad Max, a Hobie 33, won in corrected handicap time, finishing in just under 25 hours that corrected out to 22:26:41.

PASSINGS

Longtime PGA Pro Sattler Dies at 86

John Sattler, a PGA professional for 32 years, died Thursday at 86 in El Monte.