Why do we watch Couples? For those shining 'maybes'

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Is there anyone on TOUR as cool, calm and chill as Fred Couples?

He's as comfortable as an overstuffed sofa with a well-washed linen slipcover.

A little wrinkle here or there gives character. A frayed edge is charming. Goose-down cushions make you want to curl up and take a nap.

Classic. Cool. The essence of ease.

Sorry, but that's kind of how we feel about Fred Couples. There's something comforting about seeing him stroll the fairways. The lazy, fluid swing. The easy gait. The stretching and twisting. Those quirky looks he gives his shots.

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The laughs and deep laughter lines. The familiar run-on sentences that drift from thought to thought. The hair that's way more salt than pepper these days but still falls perfectly, even when he needs a trim. A back that's been creaky for so long that to remember when it wasn't, you'd have to be really old.

Fred's pushing 50, and that means if you knew him way back when -- those red-and-white Houston Cougar days -- you're either right there with him or you're old enough to remember the days without courtesy cars, hospitality tents and the term all-exempt.

But honestly, that doesn't matter.

When Fred saunters into competition like he did last weekend at the Northern Trust Open, we don't see old. Or non-playing President's Cup captain. Or soon-to-be Champions Tour rookie.

We see the kid who plopped down into his seat on the plane from Houston to Atlanta one April morning in 1992 and was worried more about having enough chips and salsa for the NCAA Finals that night than what changes he might find at Augusta National.

We remember the Velcro shot at the 12th hole six days later and the tears when Jim Nantz helped put the green jacket on his close friend that Sunday afternoon. We remember THE PLAYERS in 1984 when he was more concerned with the Cougar basketball team's semifinal game against Virginia -- they beat the Cavs 49-47, then lost to Georgetown in the finals -- than leading the tournament. We remember the next day when he won. And when he won the second one in 1996.

Or to all those post-season tournaments where he was king for so long. Or those exclamation-point shots that gave instant street cred to those first few Presidents Cups. Or the 2003 Shell Houston Open when he had a packed course rockin' on his way to a birdie at 18 and a win -- his first in five years ... and his last -- over Stuart Appleby, Hank Kuehne and his old buddy Mark Calcavecchia.

Fred has a way of popping up early each year -- when his back behaves -- in places like Palm Springs, Los Angeles and Houston. And, oh yes, Augusta.

Sometimes it's just long enough to remind us how poorly he's swinging, how he was hitting it so badly at Pebble Beach one year, he made Butch Harmon laugh. Sometimes, though, it makes us stop and think. Could he really do it? Could he win again?

The answer is ... he darned sure might.

Take Sunday at Riviera -- a course where he's won twice. He had us going there for a little while.

That shot he flipped up there at the 11th, the one that danced for a second, then spun back and stopped about 36 inches from the cup. He was right there with a chance at 18 until he did himself in.

He got a little loose there. Hit a bad shot. Didn't give himself a chance.

Yet he did. Couples considered pulling out of the tournament when he learned his estranged wife Thais Baker -- their divorce has been ongoing on for three years -- died of breast cancer at their home in Santa Barbara. They attempted to reconcile in 2007 -- she has two children from a previous marriage, 18-year-old Gigi and 16-year-old Oliver -- but it didn't work. He told the Associated Press he wasn't welcome there, so he decided to play.

Couples has been through turbulent times before. His marriage to first wife Deborah was falling apart when he won the Masters, and the divorce was final in 1993. She committed suicide in 2001.

Fred never has liked the spotlight, but it loves him. He's an aw-shucks kind of guy who draws a gallery second to one -- one Tiger Woods. He's grinding out there, yet everything seems so effortless. The way he grabs his shirt at the shoulder before a shot; the bemused look on his face and the shrug when that shot lands -- be it good or bad.

Galleries can't get enough of him. Who better to root for than a guy who can morph from couch potato to superstar when he steps onto the course; for a guy who doesn't answer the phone because, well, someone might be on the other end. A guy who didn't date, let alone get a driver license, until he was in his 20s.

No one else saw last week coming. A couple of missed cuts, a couple of 60-ish ties in the preceding weeks. He had an inkling, despite the emotional drain of Thais' death, Riviera might be a good week. It was almost a great one.

To have a chance to win again? He calls it fun. And at Riviera? That was comfortable. It's his favorite course this side of Augusta.

It was fun to watch -- the birdies at 11 and 17 that put him right there. Even 18 with his oops.

But that'll be it for a while. He hopes to spend the next month laying low, see if he can help Oliver, in particular, deal with his mother's death. He ants to hang out, work on his game and, as only he can do, just be.

We likely won't see him until Houston, where he's almost as big a draw as Tiger. He tied for fourth there last year, missed the cut at the Masters, then tied for eighth at Wachovia. At 48.

It'll be good to see him back. To see him walking down the fairway with caddie Joe LaCava talking sports and telling stories. But most of all, having fun.

The rest of his schedule? We don't know. He'll have Presidents Cup duties and that face-off with Greg Norman's International team in San Francisco in October. When that's over, he'll hop a plane to Houston, where he'll make his Champions debut at the Administaff Small Business Classic.

What we do know? He'll keep reeling us in every time he plays.

And his team in San Francisco will stay loose. Fred-style. He's got buddy Michael Jordan lined up as an assistant and wouldn't mind having Robin Williams drop by, too. There will be enough serious golf eyes in his brain trust. Why not shake it up?

A little levity in the morning? That would be classic. That would be cool. That would be fun.

That would be Freddy.

And you wonder why we love him?

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.