Northern Trust Open: Fred Couples and Max Homa

Fred Couples played his first Northern Trust Open in 1981, and is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption.  He said the Northern Trust is his favorite tournament, and he is a huge fan of the golf course and weather, “It’s just the perfect layout.  It’s very fair.  It’s going to be, what, 80 degrees here this week.”

Couples said he played well in the Pro-am this morning, but he also said playing well, “might be a Top‑30 finish.”

Couples captained the victorious U.S. President’s Cup team in 2013, and spoke about advice given to him by Raymond Floyd, assistant captain to Tom Watson for the 2014 Ryder Cup:

"He taught me the goal was to shave a shot off.  We sat down one night and he said, “Just cut one shot off every round you play.” And I said, “How would you do that, by making another 5‑foot putt somewhere?” He said, “No, that’s not what I see.  I think you need to play the par 5 differently,” and I started listening to that, and I started playing a little smarter, and I started to cut off some shots that had nothing to do with making 5‑foot putts because that’s just part of playing golf."

Max Homa grew up 45 minutes from Riviera Country Club, and said he attended the Northern Trust Open “at least 18 times” as a kid.

The 23-year-old played Riviera in the 2012 NCAA National Championship, and feels the course sets up well for his game:

"I think it sets up really well.  You have to hit it well out here.  I usually hit my irons pretty well and there’s a lot of kind of mid‑ to long‑iron shots out here.  I also think it’s good just because I know this grass pretty well.  It’s different.  It’s kind of like when you go to Florida and it’s bermuda.  There’s kind of a hometown feel to it, so I feel comfortable chipping around the different kikuyu lies, so I think that bodes well for me."

Homa has played fairly well on the PGA Tour this season.  In October, he finished T9 at the Frys.com Open, and followed it up with a T30 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.  He has missed the cut in his last two tournaments, but maybe the hometown vibes will do the trick this week.