Couples sets course mark, wins third straight start
Fred Couples won his third straight Champions Tour start, closing with a course-record 10-under 62 on Sunday for a 2-stroke victory over Corey Pavin in the Cap Cana Championship at Cap Cana, Dominican Republic.
The 50-year-old Couples, the first player in Champions Tour history to win three of his first four tournaments, had a 21-under 195 total on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Punta Espada course. Couples is the eighth Champions Tour player to win three straight starts, leaving him one behind the tour record set by Chi Chi Rodriguez in 1987.
"It was an unbelievable day," said Couples, who made 5 birdies in a row from the second through sixth hole. "The first six or seven holes, there was an eagle, birdies and putts going in from everywhere."
The ACE Group Classic and Toshiba Classic winner after finishing second in the season-opening event in Hawaii, Couples hasn't had a score higher than 68 and is 77 under in 12 senior rounds. He earned $240,000 for a four-event total of $931,000.
Arnold Palmer Invitational: Ernie Els had a 2-shot lead over Kevin Na when the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational was suspended by thunderstorms that soaked Bay Hill for three hours. The round is to resume this morning in Orlando, Fla. Els had a 5-shot lead with six holes to play and was cruising toward his second straight victory until hitting into the water for a double bogey on the 13th and into the sand for a bogey on the next hole. Els was at 11 under and on the 15th hole. Na was at 9 under and on the front of the 15th green in two, 80 feet from the hole.
Kia Classic: At Carlsbad, Calif., Hee Kyung Seo ran away with the inaugural Kia Classic for her first LPGA Tour title, shooting a 2-under 70 for a 6-stroke victory in a final round marked by Michelle Wie's latest rules gaffe. Wie was penalized 2 strokes for grounding her club in a hazard after hitting out of the water near the 11th green, giving her a double-bogey 7. Wie ended up with a 72 to tie for fifth at 4 under.
Andalucia Open: South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen earned his second straight trip to the Masters, winning the Andalucia Open at Malaga, Spain, for his first European tour title. Oosthuizen closed with a 3-under 67 to finish at 17-under 263, 3 strokes ahead of Scotland's Peter Whiteford (66) and England's Richard Finch (67).