COUPLES IS NO. 1 WITH RIVIERA FANS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

PACIFIC PALISADES - Fred Couples finished fourth in the Nissan Open on Sunday, messing up what might turn out to be his last best chance to win a big-time tournament. If it's any consolation, Couples also confirmed he's the most popular golfer to stroll the Riviera Country Club fairways since Ben Hogan himself.

After Couples made up an overnight four-stroke deficit to catch Rory Sabbatini with six holes to play, his shot at a third Nissan championship came apart.

By the time he reached the fringe of the 18th green, he needed two miracles to happen.

The only people who hadn't given up on him were several thousand in the hillside gallery.

``Knock it in, Freddie!'' a man shouted as Couples lined up a 45-foot putt.

Couples gave it a roll, missing to the left, and wound up three-putting. And as soon as Sabbatini lagged his own long putt to within tap-in distance, it was Sabbatini's tournament at 13-under par, the South African winning by a nervous margin of one over Adam Scott, two over Craig Barlow and four over Couples.

Ask most of the 38,147 fans at Riviera on a Sunday that dawned rainy and turned midwinter-perfect, and they'll say it was Couples who turned the stretch run of the 80th Nissan Open from Tiger Woods-less snoozer into high-energy entertainment.

At 46, the Santa Barbara resident is no longer a weekly threat to win PGA Tour events, not the way he was when he won the Masters and the two Nissans in the early 1990s. Despite the fact he is close to the end of his career, or maybe because of it, his presence here is cherished.

``I don't feel like the game is passing me by,'' Couples had said after shooting a 65 on Saturday. ``Now, it may be two years from now.''

This was his 25th appearance in the Nissan, which was the Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open the first time he came through in 1982, when he pocketed $4,987.50 for a 13th-place finish and the top three were named Watson, Miller and Weiskopf. This was his 11th top-10 finish in the event, in which he has collected nearly $1.4 million in prize money.

And this was his best finish since a tie for second behind Craig Stadler in 1996, so there really was a feeling of revival among the folks admiring his relaxed stride and easy swing on Sunday.

``It was fun,'' Couples said in the clubhouse after signing his scorecard for a 71. ``I just ran out of gas with some really bad shots ... I played well for 68 holes. I just didn't play well for four more.''

His troublesome back apparently wasn't bothering him this week. The flu, which knocked him out of Wednesday's pro-am, was a problem only before and after the fact.

``When I stop playing, my whole body starts to sweat,'' Couples said. ``But when I'm out there, I feel pretty good.''

He also looked pretty good in the final round, right up to the point that Sabbatini lipped out a par putt on the 12th hole and Couples and Sabbatini found themselves even at 13.

Couples went way left on the par-4 15th and bogeyed. Then he went way right on the par-3 16th, a tree branch doing him a small favor and knocking the ball into a greenside bunker, and bogeyed while Sabbatini birdied. It was effectively over for Couples, and Scott's completed score had become the only threat to Sabbatini, by the time he went right on the par-4 18th and bogeyed.

``It's disappointing,'' Couples said, particularly because he calls Riviera his favorite course other than Augusta National. ``I know the place. The crowd was behind all of us, but me a little more.''

Seven of the past 10 Nissan winners have come from outside the United States. Perhaps that makes the crowd here embrace an All-American boy like Couples a little harder, even if the boy has gray in his mop of hair and the drives that earned him the nickname ``Boom Boom'' don't boom quite as they used to.

To Sabbatini, who overlooks few slights - and seems to be fueled by them - the crowd went too far at times.

``There were a lot of snide remarks out there,'' said Sabbatini, who thought fans cheered when his approach shot on the 13th hole rolled back off the green. ``Obviously, Freddie's a great player. They can support him, I have no problem with that. But don't cheer for somebody else to do bad.

``It's nothing against Freddie. Freddie's one of the great guys on the tour. He was one of my idols on the U.S. tour growing up.''

This is what it's coming to for Fred Couples. He was all-out to finish fourth to a guy who idolized him as a kid.

But that's how he found out how much the fans at Riviera Country Club really love him. They were cheering him when he had a chance to win Sunday, and they still were cheering him when he didn't.

They hope to do it all again here next year.

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Photo:

Fred Couples reacts after missing a long putt Sunday in the final round of the Nissan Open. Couples, a three-time winner, finished fourth.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer