Couples beats pal Cook in playoff

HARRISON, N.Y. -- It came down to a contest between a hip ache and a heartache, and each of the two golfers and old friends knew which one was far less painful. Fred Couples was worried that his hip was killing him, but he still felt much better than did John Cook, who let one more major championship slip away.

Couples won the Senior Players Championship at Westchester Country Club Sunday, hitting a sand wedge 76 yards to within 3 feet of the cup on the third playoff hole to beat Cook with a birdie. It was the first senior major victory for Couples, 51, who admitted it was more of a senior moment than a major moment. "We were like two old men," he said after the playoff.

"Everyone has got nicks and aches and problems," said Couples, who had been pleased all week that his chronic bad back was better following a new treatment in Germany six weeks ago. But he was concerned when his left hip balked after a two-hour rain delay that stopped play while he, Cook and Peter Senior were on the eighth hole.

"I feel great about winning my first senior major. I just hope tomorrow when I wake up, I feel better than I do now. That's the emotional part of it because I've been doing so well. I don't really know what I'll feel like," Couples said. "Basically, you play to win tournaments. It's not like I've won 100 of them, but I've won enough of them. Today was a fun day, a challenging day but a fun day."

The sky darkened and the wind kicked during the playoff -- the 18th hole twice, and the deciding 17th -- but Couples said the extra holes seemed "relaxed" because of his long friendship with Cook. The result, however, was anything but relaxing for the runner-up, who has had a great career, including three senior wins in 2011, though not one major title in 82 tries on the PGA and Champions tours.

"Boy, it's disappointing, it really is," Cook said. "These are our signature tournaments, and I've had my chances." He alluded to the 1992 British Open, which he led by two shots with two holes to go and lost to Nick Faldo, and the 2008 British Senior Open and 2009 Tradition, which he lost in playoffs. "You know, those were mine," he said.

Cook, 53, had Couples by two with five to play in regulation Sunday, but Couples made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th and a 15-foot par on the par-3 16th. Cook bogeyed the latter hole, falling into a tie at 11 under. That set up the playoff win for Couples, which rewards him with entry into The Players Championship on the PGA Tour next year, a tournament he has won twice. Said Couples: "I get to play with the studs, so that will be fun."

For Cook, it was familiar, and not so much fun. "It's what we do. It's what I've done since I was a teenager, playing the best of the best," he said. "And you know, early on in my teenage years and my amateur years, I won all those. In the professional years, it just seems I can't quite click in to get over that hump."