The Foursome, Quick 18, Stock up/down and more

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK: Jack Nicklaus was 46 when he earned that improbable Masters victory in 1986 and Julius Boros was 48 when he captured the 1968 PGA. Dare we dream again this week? Why not? So many people are looking at 54-year-old Greg Norman and hoping he can buck the odds at Augusta National, the scene of so many heartbreaking losses for the Aussie.

Maybe we are focused on the wrong Presidents Cup captain, though. As wonderful as it would be to see Norman exorcise the demons — and I really mean that — Fred Couples enters the Masters with momentum after two ties for third in his last three starts. He won the Masters in 1992 and has nine other top-10s, including a tie for third in 2006.

Couples will be 50 on Oct. 3. He’ll captain the U.S. Team at Harding Park and then plans to fly to Houston to make his Champions Tour debut in the Administaff Small Business Classic. But judging by his performance of late, he’s not going quietly into that good night. — Helen Ross

IS THIS 1992?: Fred Couples was tired to the bone, and his 49-year-old body was facing three of the hardest holes on the PGA TOUR. Perhaps that is why it wasn’t surprising that he bogeyed the final three holes to lose the Shell Houston Open.

Everyone else bogeyed the holes too. John Mallinger bogeyed two of the final three holes to fall into a tie for sixth. So did Hunter Mahan. Both are half Couples’ age. Couples simply didn’t have a lead large enough to carry him through the hardest closing stretch on the PGA TOUR in ’09.

All that will be forgotten if he can get into contention this week at Augusta National. Forget Couples’ incredible record there — it’s more important to focus on how he’s playing now: Two top-fives in his last three starts. For anyone not named Tiger Woods, that’s a lot of momentum heading into the year’s first major.

The way Couples is playing, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Couples become the oldest major champion in history on Sunday. — Ryan Smithson

HINDSIGHT 20/20?: While 15 of the top 20 players in the Official World Rankings appeared at the Shell Houston Open for final Masters preparation, you have to wonder if they’re thinking it was a good decision.

That second-guessing has nothing to do with the venue, or the tournament. It simply has to do with Mother Nature, which tournament organizers and the PGA TOUR can’t control. Because of extreme winds that reached 45 mph last Thursday, the majority of the Shell Houston Open’s first round didn’t tee off until Friday morning. This threw a massive wrench into the schedule as most of the field didn’t finish their second rounds until early afternoon on Saturday.

The third round didn’t wrap up until late Sunday morning and some of the leaders played as many as 28 holes on the final day.

Granted, the guys in the Houston field didn’t play any more holes than they expected to. However, they did play those 72 holes in a far shorter period of time than usual. We won’t know if this had any effect on their respective games until next week. But, it’s probably safe to say that this type of dry-run for the Masters wasn’t exactly what they anticipated. — T.J. Auclair

TOUGH FINISH: If there is a tougher finishing stretch on the PGA TOUR than the last three holes at Redstone, I don’t want to play it. Sunday, the final three holes only saw two players who started on the front nine play those last three even par. Justin Leonard made three straight pars to end his round and so did J.B. Holmes.

The par-3 16th opens the stretch and is followed by two par-4s that each stretch over 480 yards. The final hole may be the toughest finishing hole in the game. At 488 yards and with water all down the left side it is a terribly demanding driving hole. Even getting the ball in the fairway is no guarantee for par. Water, wind and sand are all factors on the second shot as well. John Merrick made the day’s only birdie on Sunday while there were 28 scores of double bogey or worse.

The stroke average for the best players in the game was more than a shot over par.

Move over Blue Monster, 18 at TPC Sawgrass and the Bear Trap, there is a new king of devastation on TOUR. The 18th at Redstone is the hardest finishing hole on TOUR. Just ask Paul Casey, winner of the Shell Houston Open, who made two bogeys on 18 in the final round and in the playoff and they were good enough for the victory. — John Maginnes

PGATOUR.COM’S Brian Wacker wrote the Quick 18, Stock up/Stock Down and Forward Spin.

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