Fred Couples called the LIV-PGA matchup ‘strange’. Here’s why

Fred Couples needed a push to fit in Coping earlier this week.

Not because he had anything against the exhibition — which pitted PGA Tour stars Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against LIV standouts Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka — but because he forgot it was on.

“Somehow Brooks let me down,” Couples said Thursday of PNC Championship. “I text Brooks a lot.”

Instead, the memory came from Couples’ wife, Suzanne, who noticed a photo of Scheffler’s wife, Meredith, on social media.

“Why is she in Vegas?” Suzanne asked Fred.

“I said, ‘Well, they’re playing the game.'”

Then came another reminder, via a text from the former Çifteve caddy, Joe LaCavawho now seeks Patrick Cantlay. LaCava was curious if Couples was watching Shadow stream-based event.

When Couples finally got into action, the players were on the 5th hole. “It was pitch black and freezing,” Couples said. “Now, I don’t know why they would do that, to play such a big game (in such challenging conditions).

Indeed, by the end of the contest, temperatures will drop into the 50s. The air was so fresh that DeChambeau wore a puffy knee-length parka between tackles, the kind you can see NFL quarterbacks not on the sideline. The players lost a bit of their cars and, at times, seemed less than thrilled to be battling the cold while carting around.

“It was just weird,” Couples said of the atmosphere, echoing the sense of absence from golf fans who shared their reactions on social media.

Couples, it should be noted, have not been big fans of LIV, an opinion he has not been shy about airing. His main beef has been with those LIV participants who have participated on the PGA Tour, but he has also aired complaints about LIV’s funding and format.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand it,” Couples said about LIV at the Masters in April. “Maybe I’ll go to one (LIV event) and see what it’s really, really like. I know how great they are as players. I get them all, and I get the 54 holes and you drive a cart to the top and your rifle. This is easy to choose. Sometimes I’ve picked on comments that people have made, and I’ve picked on comments that talk about the tournament, which I’ve said I’ve invested now 44 years and I don’t want anyone to pick on a tournament that I think is very good.

“Now, everything can be made better, but let me tell you, if the LIV Tour is better for golf, I’m missing something there. But then again, I’m not here to bash them anymore.”

Couples has said he has had no problem with those LIV players — in particular, Koepka and Dustin Johnson, he said — going quietly about their business.

Given all of this context, Couples was surely viewing The Showdown through a different lens than the fans who have embraced LIV. Despite the tough playing conditions, Couples said he enjoyed watching the players compete.

“I thought it was fun,” he said of the LIV-vs.-PGA Tour concept. “For me it didn’t matter who won. I beat LIV, I do the tour every now and then. These are four great, great guys. I have so much heart for Brooks and Bryson. But I love Scheffler and Rory. I think they put on a show.”

Couples know a thing or two about exhibition golf. In 11 appearances in the Skins Game, he earned the moniker “Mr. Skins” for winning a combined 77 skins and more than $4.4 million in pocket change.

The last Skins game was played in 2008, but the event is ongoing restart next year through a partnership between the PGA Tour and new golf media company Pro Shop. Couples will not play, but he said that he IS likely to have another role: honorary starter.

“I’m just curious what they’re going to play for,” Couples said of the players to be announced. “That would have to be a ton of money.”