Fred Couples’ goal these days in the Masters Tournament is to make the cut. He made a gallant effort to break his own record for oldest to do so on Friday, but faded down the stretch at Augusta National Golf Club.
After what he called a “mediocre” round of 5-over-par 77, Couples came up two shots shy of making the weekend. He shot 3-over 39 on the back nine when 37 would have been good enough. He made bogeys on Nos. 14, 15 and 18.
He needed to birdie No. 18 but fanned his drive into the magnolias and ended up missing a 9-footer for par.
“It was not awful,” Couples said. “I could have shot 73 and I could have shot 80. How about that? And I kind of shot right in between because I made a couple putts. But I'm not upset about anything. I tried as hard as I could, and let me tell you, it's a hard course.”
Now 65, Couples holds the record for oldest to make a cut, at age 63 in 2023. Bernhard Langer, 67, took a shot at it this week, but missed a 11-foot par putt on No. 18 and missed the cut by a shot in his final Masters.
After what Couples called “a very fun” day on Thursday, when he shot 71, Friday was the polar opposite. The difference was on the greens. He went from 23 putts (second-best in the field) to 31 on Friday.
The bogey on the par-5 15th hole was a killer. He snap-hooked his drive into the trees on the left and ended up missing a 11-foot putt for par.
That drive went only 146 yards once it stopped rattling around the trees. Couples called it “the worst drive I've hit in 20 years. I don't even know what happened.”
This was Couples’ 40th Masters, but it won’t be his last.
“Well, sure, I'm playing next year for sure, yeah. I made that - (Masters officials) made that clear they wanted me to come back, so I'm coming back next year,” he said. “The Masters is the greatest tournament of all time. It's just so unique.
“You know what stays the same is the patrons, the people who come out and watch,” Couples added. “There's 30,000 of them every day we play. The egg salad sandwiches I think are still $2 (even cheaper, at $1.50). That's my favorite sandwich. The greens are still lightning fast and they're going to get them rock hard tomorrow.”
David Westin is a recipient of the Masters Major Achievement Award and has covered every tournament at Augusta National Golf Club since 1979 for The Augusta Chronicle. He also caddied at the club for a time.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Fred Couples' magical Masters Thursday comes back to reality in Round 2
