By Mike Bianchi
Florida Times-Union sports writer
Morris News Service

PONTE VEDRA BEACH - Then, he had just won the biggest tournament of his career, and he was just arriving.

Now, he has just won the biggest tournament of his career, and he is back.

Same tournament, different decade. Different Fred Couples.

In the 12 years in between victories at the Tournament Players Championship, Couples has seen it all. He has seen his personal life torn apart, exposed and resurrected. And he has seen his golf game fall apart and get put back together again, too.

The picture on the wall of champions at the Tournament Players Club probably puts it in perspective best. It shows a fresh-faced, 24-year-old Fred Couples, looking much like the fifth Beatle as he held off the big guns - Lee Trevino and Tom Watson - during his 1984 TPC championship run. He has the long Buster Brown haircut, is decked out in red polyester pants and is clearly clueless about life and love.

``The new picture will be a lot older, and I'll have a lot shorter and grayer hair,'' Couples said yesterday after devouring the Stadium Club course with an 8-under 64 to become the first two-time TPC winner. ``When I look back at that old picture, I kind of laugh. I had the red cheeks and I looked like I was 10. Now, I look like I'm 70.''

Of course, Couples is exaggerating. At 36, he still has the sparkling eyes and dimpled smile that made one woman in the gallery demand yesterday ... ``Fred, come over here so I can get a closer look at you.'' Still, his aching back and broken marriage have certainly deepened the worry lines in Couples' boyish face.

Last time he won the TPC, his former wife Deborah, a flashy blonde who dabbed on makeup in the woods throughout hubby's final round, sprinted across the 18th green in high heels and a short sundress and leaped into Couples' waiting arms. This time, his new fiance, Tawnya Dodd, showed a little more decorum. She waited patiently until Couples walked off the green before giving him some sugar.

Those close to the laid-back Couples insist Tawnya is a much better match for Couples than the ostentatious Deborah. You remember Deborah, right? She's the one who wore the hot pink mini-skirt during her own press conference after Couples won the 1992 Masters. The old boys in the Green Jackets didn't know what to think.

It was the messy divorce of Deborah in October, 1993 and a huge alimony settlement that signaled the beginning of Couples' mini-slump. Those personal pitfalls, combined with chronic back problems, made Couples wonder if he wanted to keep playing golf. But he is obviously on the comeback trail in more ways than one. According to Tawnya, he proposed to her before a dinner date a few months ago ``the Fred Couples way.''

He dropped a diamond ring in her hand as they were walking out the door and said non-chalantly, ``Are you ready to go?''

``We'll probably get married some day,'' Couples says tentatively.

As you might expect, he is obviously more comfortable discussing his rebuilt golf game than is rebuilt love life. Couples didn't just win the TPC yesterday, he owned it. He gained eight strokes on third-round leader Tommy Tolles during the day by recording six birdies and an eagle.

It was that lucky eagle on the 16th hole that actually won the tournament and was almost identical to another heaping helping of good fortune that led him to his Masters win in 1992.

Back then, Couples landed his tee-shot on the par-3 15th hole on the bank in front of the green, and the ball began rolling downward before trickling to a stop just short of the water. Every other errant ball during the tournament had rolled down the embankment and into the water, but somehow Couples' managed to stay dry.

``Back then, when he hit the ball I was saying `Go! Go!'' said his caddie Joe LaCaua. ``It was the same thing today. When he hit the shot, I thought it was going in the water, and I started yelling, `Go. Go.''

This time, it was his second shot on No. 16 that was heading toward the pond on the right side of the green. But it hit the bank and inexplicably bounded left an onto the fringe of the green. Couples sank the eagle putt from 25 feet to secure the victory.

``The Masters was a best tournament I've ever won, but this is the biggest,'' Couples said. ``To win here really shows me that not only can I still play, I can still win. ... The timing is perfect because I think this shows I'm back.''