Fred Couples’ ‘silent assassin’ teammate at PNC? His stepson

Fred Couples has played in 622 PGA Tour events and made another 154 starts on the PGA Tour Champions, but this weekend will mark a first for him: his debut in the Cadillac of silly-season tournaments: the PNC Championship, a feel-good, yet still uber-competitive, affair in which 20 of the game’s most accomplished players — including 11 former world No. 1’s — will partner up for two days with their sons, daughters and grandchildren.

Or in Couples’ case, his stepson.  

In the 36-hole scramble at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Couples will be pegging it with Hunter Hanneman, the teenage son of Couples’ wife of two years, Suzanne.

Relative to most of the young’uns in the field, Hunter came to golf late. He was 10 when he first started playing — this was a couple of years after Fred and Suzanne met — but he quickly warmed to the game, squeezing in a round or practice session between football and basketball games. Today, high-level volleyball is Hunter’s primary pursuit, which Hunter says has helped him get comfortable competing in front of large crowds, as he will at the PNC.

This won’t be Couples and Hunter’s first time competing together. Last year they teamed up at a member-member in Palm Springs, Calif. — they played with NFL legend John Elway in the second round — and won. Earlier this fall, Couples said he approached Hunter about playing in the PNC. Hunter took a day to think about it before deciding he was in.

To dial in Hunter’s game, Couples and Hunter played for five straight days in Palm Springs over Thanksgiving break. “He did great,” Couples said this week. “He hits it a long way.”

Couples said he’s “probably more fired up than Hunter” about this week. For years, Couples has watched his Tour pals — Raymond Floyd, DL3, Tiger — tee it up with their offspring in this event, which always left Couples feeling a bit wistful. “I’ve seen enough of it that every pro that walks off the 18th green says it was the greatest week of their lives,” he said.

Now, Couples, who is 65, will finally get to experience the competition and camaraderie for himself.  

When Tiger — who is playing in the PNC with his son Charlie for the fifth time this week — got wind that Couples was playing, he dropped Couples a text.  

“Dude, I’m so excited for you,” Tiger wrote, as Couples recalled it. “It’s just the hang that you’re going to love.”

Couples said Tiger also asked if he and Hunter wanted to play with him and Charlie.

“That is not going to happen,” Couples said he replied.

Couples and Hunter might not feel quite ready for the spotlight that comes with playing with the Woodses, but they’ll be in a high-wattage group anyway, playing alongside world No. 1 Nelly Korda and her ex-tennis pro father, Petr. “We’re really excited about that because for Hunter and I to be on the same tees with Nelly, we’ll settle each other down a little bit and have a good time,” Couples said.

He added, “I’m going to watch Hunter a lot, watch Nelly a lot. I’m going to watch Hunter more.”

Couples himself will also be worth watching, in part because fans haven’t seen him play much this year. After missing the cut at the Masters in the April, he took four months off to rest his chronically bad back. He returned to the Champions tour in August but has played just three events in the last five months, with one top-20 finish.

When asked this week if he still enjoys playing, Couples said: “I do. I just don’t last very long. So I’ve tried my last six or eight years to figure out how I can be competitive and not just go somewhere and play and not beat anyone. And then I practice a little harder, and then I’ll go play a tournament, and then my back goes out.

“Last year was awful. I couldn’t really play. And I went to Augusta just because I’m stubborn and I wanted to play.” This week, he added, “I actually — knock on wood — feel really, really good.”

Of course, no matter how he and Hunter play, you get the sense that the week will be a success regardless. In fact, sounds like it already has been. Of Hunter’s practice partners, Couples said: “All eight people pulled me aside and said they had a blast with Hunter. I was never really worried about it. He’s a shy assassin. He knows what to say.”