Fred

Couples

The 63-year-old is making his 38th appearance at the Masters, arriving with missed cuts in his last four tries. Today, he traded four birdies with a trio of bogeys. “I’m shooting as low as I can just to hopefully make the cut. For all the best players here, I thought it played pretty easy today.” Couples was two shots better than the field average today, so there is a bit of modesty in that statement. It’s still early but he is on track to make his 31st career cut at the event.

Playing the closing nine with Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas on Wednesday, Couples once again discussed Woods’ health, ball-striking, and overall status. When asked how Woods looked compared to Monday, the 62-year-old said, “He looked the exact same, maybe a little better, a little sharper. J.T. was way better too. We flew in on Monday and laughed a lot. Today they were pretty serious. They’re ready to roll, and they’re ready to go tomorrow. Tiger is Tiger. I said it on Monday that he’s not like a lot of us where I’ve been injured even at age 35 and I go play just to play. He’s not going to do that. He’s won so many times, and he’s just not a guy to go do something mediocre. He’ll compete, and he’ll be ready to roll.” Couples was later asked how he looked compared to 2018 to which he replied, “You know, what a great question. I personally think -- I really personally think he looks the exact same. I don’t know if you watched any holes, but he stood over the ball, and he says watch this, and he drew it around the corner. He hit a great iron on 12. It hit the bank and went in the water, but it was a flush iron. He knows where to aim, go over there to the left. Basically, No. 13, hooked it around the corner. He looks the exact same to me.”

The 62-year-old, 15-time Tour champion met Woods and Justin Thomas for a day he characterized as “a blast.” He offered several comments on Tiger’s form, noting: “If you want to talk golf, he was bombing it. I know JT is not the longest hitter on the Tour, but I know he’s damn long. He was with him flushing it. I never speak for Tiger, … but as a friend and the way he looked, he’s very impressive.” As for his own game, Couples was surprised at how well he played despite an extended break: “I’m kind of mystified – I hit it pretty solid, and I have not played since Thanksgiving.” This week marks Couples’ 37th start at Augusta where he’s made 30 cuts with 11 top 10s. In 1992, Couples rallied from one stroke back of Craig Parry on the final day to win by two. Last season in PGA Tour Champions action, he was 21st on the Schwab Cup standings and 19th on the money list during the wrap-around season, notching three runner-up results in 20 starts with one of them coming in 2021. See link below for Couples’ full comments on Tiger and more.

Couples will bring a lot of experience to the table this week as he’s making his 36th appearance at the Masters. He’s only missed the cut in five of those trips but three of them have come in the last five visits. The 61-year-old has made two starts since his missed cut at the November Masters. Both of those were on the Champions circuit, a T4 at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship and a T20 at the Cologuard Classic. Couples will be a fan favorite as always, but his days of being a trusted fantasy option are long gone.

Justin Leonard was the other selection on Monday. Couples is currently tied for 38th at the NEC.

He shot an 8-over par 80 in the round, recording three double-bogeys, three bogeys and just one birdie to finish at 5-over par for the tournament. The cut looks like it will be 4-over par, leaving Freddy and a majority of fantasy golf owners in the cold this weekend.

The 1992 champ rolled in seven birdies today to join Jason Dufner atop the leaderboard. Couples, now 52 years of age, has split 21 (of 28) fairways and hit 23 greens. He’s also avoided the bunkers. Perhaps most impressively, today’s cool weather didn’t have a negative impact on his ability to get around Augusta National.

Couples also withdrew early from last week’s Champions Tour stop due to the flu. He qualified for THE PLAYERS when he won last year’s Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. It is an exemption that bumps the field to 145, so it does not warrant an alternate. The field will max out at 144 now. Because the 52-year-old is no longer a full-time member of the PGA TOUR, we will leave him off our Injury Report.

Couples’ history in Houston needs no introduction, and he won last week’s Champions Tour stop in Mississippi, but this is still an impressive effort by the 52-year-old. He hit 15 greens and converted five birdies, including rolls of 20'10", 13'6" and 13'7" at the first, 16th and 18th holes, respectively. He kept a clean card thanks in part to a par save of 12'10" at the par-4 17th hole where his approach found a greenside bunker on the short side of the hole.

Couples enters the final round at 2-under 214 and seven shots off the lead. He found trouble early and often in the third round with bogies at the first, second and a double bogey at the fifth. He fought all the way back to 4-under after birdies at the 11th and 12th, but gave those back after rinising his approach on the 15th and bogeying the 16th.