Unhappy Couples : Golfer, Estranged Wife Are at Odds Over ‘Allowance’

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —  Fred Couples, one of golf’s top money winners, thought his estranged wife could lead a pretty good life on $17,500 a month.

But Deborah Couples said she needs at least $168,000 a month to get her through the polo season.

Circuit Judge Richard Wennet listened to the Couples’ accountants and checked credit card bills Thursday before deciding $52,000 a month was a fair allowance.

Couples, PGA Player of the Year in 1992 and the American tour’s top moneymaker last year, must pay his wife’s temporary support until their divorce, The Palm Beach Post reported Friday.

“After taxes, Mr. Couples had discretionary income of over $300,000 a month in 1992,” his wife’s attorney, John Christiansen, told the judge. “That is the pie you have to slice up.”

But testimony during the three-hour hearing strayed from finances to more personal matters. Fred Couples admitted he had a two-month affair but said his wife’s obsession with polo horses probably ended the marriage.

“Yes, I met another woman,” Couples said, after his wife became ill and left the courtroom. “If she had not gone overboard in polo, we would probably still be married.”

Deborah Couples said her husband encouraged her career sponsoring polo horses.

“He said he would be mad at me if I quit polo after all the energy and effort I had put into it,” she said. To get her through the current season she said she needed $168,000 for the next three months. After that, her monthly expenses would drop to $55,000.

She said she does not want a divorce and still loves Couples, who earned between $4.7 million and $5.2 million, depending on whose accountant was testifying.

The couple met in college and married in December 1981. She worked as a tennis pro. Couples was unemployed, according to court records. As his career as a golf pro skyrocketed, so did their lifestyle.

Four years ago, Deborah Couples took up polo.

“I was excited for her,” Couples said. “Then she bought a trailer for $18,000. Then she traded the trailer for three horses. Each time I came back from the tour we argued about it.”

Last year she spent more than $100,000 to pay polo players, according to court records.

Couples said he left his wife in July and is living at their home in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

His attorney, Bruce Christensen, said Deborah Couples knew the marriage was over and devoted 1992 to improving her standard of living in anticipation of the divorce.

To prove his point, Christensen showed the judge Deborah Couple’s American Express bill for October--the month before she filed for divorce. She spent thousands of dollars during a two-day shopping spree in Beverly Hills, driving her monthly tally to $22,000.