It was a more confident, comfortable Fred Couples who swept past his old friend and golf mentor to assume control of the Honda Classic Saturday.
A week ago and 30 miles away at Doral, Couples spoke of being intimidated by the veteran Ray Floyd and observed, going into the final round, that ”he won`t be worried about me. I`ll be worried about him.”
Couples, almost certainly the best player in the world over the last nine months, exhibited a different demeanor Saturday after a 7-under-par 65 enabled him to replace Floyd as the leader after three rounds.
There was no talk of intimidation. Instead, Couples observed:
”Right now, I feel like, not that the game is easy, but I can`t play better than I`ve been playing.”
Couples was runner-up to the 49-year-old Floyd last week, won in Los Angeles the week before that, and has won four times in the last nine months. But he has his work cut out for him going into Sunday`s final round. Seven players, including Floyd, are within four strokes.
With a 202 total, 14 under par, Couples holds a one-shot advantage over Mark Brooks. Blaine McCallister is at 204. Floyd, the 36-hole leader, slipped to a 71 and is tied at 205 with Greg Hickman and Corey Pavin.
