AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fred Couples was so unflappable during the first round of the Masters that not even a sound engineer for one of the broadcasts who wandered down the middle of the fairway as the 1992 champion was trying to tee off threw him out of sync.
Couples chipped in for a birdie from left of the green at the first hole. He holed a hybrid from 191 yards for an eagle at the 14th. And after finishing with four consecutive pars on Thursday, the 65-year-old Couples signed for a tidy 71 that made him the second-oldest player to shoot a round under par at the Masters.
Tom Watson was a month older when he shot a 71 at Augusta National Golf Club in 2015.
“I don’t want to be a clown, but I can play golf,” Couples said. “I can play around here. If the weather is like this and not hard, I can — as long as I don’t do crazy things — I can shoot 73 or (74) or (75). That’s not embarrassing myself at all. If I do that, and did that today and come back with 70 or 71 tomorrow, the goal is for me to make the cut.”
Hard to believe that a year ago, Couples wondered whether tournament chairman Fred Ridley would want him to keep playing.