AUGUSTA, Ga. – So much of the noise this week understandably has been about the biggest names in golf – Tiger and Phil, golf’s heavyweights who have won six of the last 10 Masters titles.
A lot of the leftover commotion has been for the new kids, fresh-faced guys named McIlroy and Day or Quiros and Fowler – pups who hit it three miles wearing Day-Glo outfits that are easily identified from roughly the same distance.
At some point maybe we’ll stop forgetting about Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champ who is 51 years young and still bashing it around with all these meddling youngsters.
“He’s as cool as he ever was,” said Steve Stricker, who played the first two rounds with Couples.
Couples worked through his traditionally ailing back to shoot a 68 Friday and is five shots and some 30 years off 21-year-old leader Rory McIlroy’s 10-under leading total.
Cool has never been in short supply for Couples, who was hitting mammoth 300-yard drives long before it became commonplace. Sure, his floppy hair has turned gray, his occasional back stretches – like when he waited to putt on No. 15 Friday after reaching the par 5 in two – show his need to stay limber, and his comfortable smile is frequently replaced by the clenched teeth that silently reveal the depths of his back pain.
Still, he’s so good, with the flowing swing that has launched 1,000 teaching videos, that it’s hard to gauge where his career would be if his back had remained strong. His swing is violent, but it appears so effortless and smooth, that it’s hard not to ask “What if?”
What if he had not been troubled by injuries? Who knows how good he would have been?
“It would be scary if he was healthy,” Stricker said. “Because there’s a couple shots out there where he hit and groaned, you know. Downhill lies, I think, really bother him a lot, where he has to really stay in there a long time. And I heard a couple groans come out of him.
“So he’s playing hurt. That’s what’s even more impressive. If he was healthy, how good could he be still?”
The “what ifs” seem somewhat overstated at Augusta National because Couples is always among the fans’ favorites and he’s almost always in contention. He’s only won here once, but he’s finished in the top 10 in 11 of his 26 Masters, including a tie for sixth last year.
The bond is more than numbers. He readily admits his love for this place, and the feeling is reciprocated on every stroll up every fairway. But here’s another one for you: What if he makes another run here today?
What if his back holds up for another day or two and the man known as “Boom-Boom” in a former life chases down McIlroy, the pup from Northern Ireland who was born six years after Couples’ first PGA Tour win?
“It’s my favorite tournament. Even though I’m not feeling that great coming into this thing, I still feel like I can shoot some scores,” said Couples, who had his streak of 23 consecutive made cuts here snapped in 2009. “I’m very sore and stiff, but I have a late tee time tomorrow. I’ll get a lot of rest between now and then, and I’ve got two more days.”
Here’s another “what if”: What if Couples spends the next two days dancing with the leaders? What if he’s waltzing around this grand shrine with the crowd on his side, while all these kids are two-stepping in and out of trouble as the music that is major championship pressure gets louder and louder?
He’s in position again after a near-flawless round Friday, marred only by a three-putt on 16. It was vintage Couples – “I know where you don’t want to hit it,” he said – and it certainly did not catch one Masters favorite off guard.
“I’ve seen him play,” three-time Masters champ Phil Mickelson said, “it’s not that surprising. Yeah, it would be a special feat, but with Fred it’s not that surprising.”
What if Couples – on the 25th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus’ miraculous win here in 1986 at the age of 46 – rewrote history over the next two days?
“You know it would be the biggest upset in golf history,” Couples said. “Retiring is what it would be. I would be gone.”
Then we would finally have a good reason to forget about him before the next Masters.