Fred Couples Spurns Champions Tour Major for Wyndham

Perhaps it's the difficulty in reaching a milestone in terms of age. Maybe it's the desire to still compete with the young guns. Pragmatically, it could be the difference in purse size. Regardless, Fred Couples will be teeing it up in the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina rather than the Jeld-Wen Tradition in Sunriver, Oregon. How the Tradition commands "major" status is beyond me. It's not even mentioned on Golf Channel's website's homepage on the eve of the event. That just corroborates the fact that no one watches the Champions Tour, (see Seniors), or LPGA tournaments. Hell, there's barely enough folks tuning into PGA events these days with the circus that is Tiger Woods and players with foreign names winning majors. Come to think of it, Woods should be playing this week. He desperately needs Ryder Cup points and and has to move up in the FedUp Cup standings to play past the Barclays next week.

Fred is still Tour long off the tee and finished T5 here last year. Like any other player, as his putter goes, so go his chances. The grease fire that is John Daly tees it up here and that gives you a clear picture of how much weight this tourney holds. It's 3:2 that Big John WDs. Those are the best odds seen on Daly in quite some time. David Duval, Billy Mayfair and Tom Pernice Jr. enhance the field and validate that this event is the last shot for players to A:  keep their card, or B: rack up some FedUp Cup points before next week's first playoff event. The Wyndham offer a 5.1 million dollar purse vs. the Tradition's 2.6 million dollars. Hmm......Tough choice, huh Fred?

Suffice it to say that if this Average Golfer sees a golf ball this weekend it'll be in person. It may be in the woods or a body of water, but it'll be in person. Sure, I'll check scores to stay in touch, but my remote will be getting a well deserved vacation.

Til' next,