12. 19.2011

tim;rosaforte
texting;with;cap’n;freddie

everybody loves a comeback, and so it was on the evening of dec. 4, while i was on the set for golf central, my cell phone started lighting up with texts.

fred couples wasn’t feeling vindicated as much as he was elated that woods turned a corner.

selection official on sept. 27, two days after the tour championship.

sunday at royal melbourne, woods was ready, clinching the cup not just by hitting shots, but by making putts—as he would two weeks later at the chevron.

Wow what a great day for tiger woods

in thousand oaks, calif., woods made putts on the 71st and 72nd holes of the chevron world challenge for his first victory in more than two years.

Look u know it and I know It. He screwed up But I loved the kid years Ago and I love him more Now. He is something Else. And his school gets another million dollars

couples helped accelerate that process by going all in on woods as a presidents cup captain’s pick. we talked about it on camera during the constellation energy senior players championship, six days after woods missed the cut at the pga championship.

there was a string attached to the pick. woods would have to add a tournament to his schedule. only one person on earth could dictate terms of a playing appearance to tiger, and it wasn’t pga tour commissioner tim finchem.

their picture on the cover of Golf World, tiger and freddie in full embrace, with the headline, “the oz couple,” is my favorite image of the year.

this wasn’t an official pga tour event, but it didn’t matter. on a competitive level, woods was woods again.

due to couples’ urging, woods entered the frys.com open, though he said it was part of a promise he made to finchem about adding events to his schedule.

fred loved it too.

I had a great bunch of Guys
and loved Watching them
Win pres Cup. And tiger get-
ting The winning Point made
it that much Sweeter
Oh yeah. All those haters r In
Love again. I love the kid

the texts were coming from the guy who became famous for not answering phone calls because he didn’t know who was on the other end.

for his choice, couples
took heat, including some
second-guessing by greg
norman and geoff ogilvy,
the respective captain and
star of the international
team, who were support-
ing pga champion keegan
bradley. couples laughed
it off, making the woods
by the time he reached the
emirates australian open,
woods was finding his form.
he finished third, making
couples feel good as the
presidents cup neared.