Clinics being clinics, Couples had to know the German version of such wouldn’t include a waiting room where patients clink beer steins while singing the chorus of “Edelweiss.”
But he also knew that pain relief for a long-ailing back isn’t necessarily achieved with the silent treatment.
“Coming from America, I thought they might have a clue to say something,” Couples recalled Thursday of his first visit to an internationally renowned practitioner of weird science “I was a little uneasy, ya know?”
The uneasiness from the lack of communication intensified when Couples was pointed to a room, where a sample of his blood was taken.
“And from then on,” Couples continued, “it was a no-brainer.”
A few painless 30-minute visits later, Couples’ back was better, saving a lost season and enabling Boeing Classic fans to gather at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge this weekend for a celebration of their favorite son.
“Originally, I didn’t know what I was getting into,” said Couples.
“But it’s really, really helped.”
What helped was a radical treatment called Orthokine therapy, which uses – and here I’m quoting from a report submitted by a PGATOUR.com correspondent – “individual autologous proteins derived from a patient’s blood as medication.”
The procedure has not yet been approved in the U.S., but the PGA gave Couples its blessings to undergo treatment.
“It could last for a month, it could last for a week, it could last six weeks,” said Couples. “Three weeks ago, I couldn’t have felt any better.”
For the first six months of his second year on golf’s senior circuit, the rookie sensation of the 2010 Champions Tour couldn’t have felt any worse.
In early May, during the Tradition at Shoal Creek in Alabama, things got so bad for Couples that his naturally amiable personality disappeared along with this game.
“I was so tired,” he said, “I was sleeping in the afternoon from 5 to 7. I’d wake up for dinner, and then be up until tee time. It’s like a toothache. I hated everybody, and I was not playing good. It was the absolute worst.”
Couples consulted a dozen doctors, almost all of whom recommended at least three months of rest before exploring the idea of surgery. It was then he learned of the Orthokine therapy clinic in Dsseldorf. Upon returning home, Couples took two and a half months off before setting his sights on last week’s Senior Players Championship at New York’s Westchester Country Club, home of the fifth and final major of the Champions Tour season.
Facing longtime friend John Cook in a playoff, Couples almost drained his approach shot on the third extra hole. He ended up with a birdie for his first major title as a senior – and his best finish in any kind of tournament in 2011.
His second-best finish? A tie for seventh place in the Northern Trust Open. It had been that kind of year for the graduate of Seattle’s O’Dea High.
The Boeing Classic is Couples’ only opportunity this season to return to the area where he grew up – and has revisited sporadically since he left to play college golf at the University of Houston.
Couples came back twice in 2010, first for the U.S. Senior Open at Sahalee, and then, three weeks later, for the Boeing Classic. He remembers his Sahalee experience as “the most fun I’ve ever had in golf,” which is no exaggeration. Couples, ever courteous, deftly managed the fawning gallery that followed him, and for 53 of 54 holes, he was The Man. But a triple bogey, early on Sunday, ended any chance of a suspenseful showdown with eventual-winner Bernard Langer.
Couples can’t recall many details of his Boeing Classic performance – he finished third in a tournament won by Langer, who held off Nick Price – except that he had a blast reconnecting with both his immediate family and the fans who consider themselves part of his extended family.
“For Fred, obviously in Seattle he’s a huge fan favorite, but he’s kind of that way everywhere,” Cook said. “He’s pretty much a crowd favorite wherever he goes.”
Except, maybe, in Dsseldorf.
john.mcgrath@thenewstribune.com
CHAMPIONS TOUR
BOEING CLASSIC
Who: Pro golfers age 50 and over.
Where: Snoqualmie.
When: Today-Sunday.
Course: TPC Snoqualmie Ridge (7,183 yards, par 72).
Purse: $2 million. Winner’s share: $300,000.
Television: Golf Channel (today, 3:30-5:30 p.m.; Saturday, 3:30-5:30 p.m.; Sunday, 4-6:30 p.m.).
Last year: Bernhard Langer won the last of his five titles in 2010, shooting 66-63-69 to match the tournament record at 18 under. Nick Price was second, three strokes back.
Last week: Fred Couples birdied the third hole of a playoff with John Cook to win the Senior Players Championship for his first senior major title. Couples and Cook finished at 11 under at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y.
Notes: Tom Kite won in 2006 and 2008. … In 2007, Denis Watson won in a tour-record, seven-man playoff. Watson eagled the second extra hole to beat Craig Stadler and R.W. Eaks. David Eger, Gil Morgan, Joe Ozaki and Dana Quigley were eliminated on the first playoff hole. … Jack Nicklaus designed the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge.
Online: pgatour.com
Staff report
