by Jeff Skinner
Fred Couples had never won an Open Championship but he did have nine top ten finishes before he moved on to The Senior Open Championship. In his first appearance at The Senior Open Couples came home with the hardware with a two stroke win over Gary Hallberg.
Bernard Langer started the final round with a one stroke lead over Couples but uncharacteristically failed to close the deal. Langer ballooned to a 75 and finished in sixth place, seven strokes back.
Couples finished with a flourish with two birdies to dash the hopes of Hallberg. Couples was thrilled to have won at Turnberry. “It was a very fun day. Being paired with Bernhard, you’ve got to play great and for a long time there, we were neck and neck.”
“That was a big birdie on 17 to make 18 play easier and then when I hit the last putt, the hole got in the way and I won by two. I’m very happy and excited to have won this.”
“It’s the next best thing for all of us,” he said. “Obviously I never won The Open. I came close. Last night I really thought about the golf course. I knew I needed to play it well, and this is my biggest Senior Tour win, by far, winning on a truly great, great golf course.”
“I can say I won a Senior Open at Turnberry. I think the best thing about the whole week was playing this course. It’s a challenging, very tough course, under extreme weather. It’s nice to win any event, but there’ve been a lot of great champions on this thing, that’s for sure.”
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