Fred Couples shoots 71 at the Masters. So much for the 65-year-old thinking he no longer belongs

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — 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 birdie from left of the green at the first. He holed a hybrid from 191 yards for eagle at the 14th. And after finishing with four consecutive pars, the 65-year-old Couples signed for a tidy 1-under 71 on Thursday that made him the second-oldest player to shoot a subpar round at the Masters. Tom Watson was a month older when he shot 71 in 2015.

“I don't want to be a clown,” Couples said, “but I can play golf. 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 4 or 5. 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 Masters chairman Fred Ridley would want him to keep playing.

His back was bothering him again, he had just limped through rounds of 80 and 76 to miss the cut and it seemed like a whole lot more than 12 months since Couples had become the oldest player in Masters history to play the weekend.

It took a phone call with Steve Ethun, the chief tournament officer for the Masters, to reassure Couples he was welcome.

He certainly looked like he belonged on Thursday.

Sure, Couples may have been 25 yards behind playing partners Harris English and Taylor Pendrith off the tees. He has a bag full of hybrids rather than conventional irons. But more often than not, Couples had his bright yellow ball tracking toward the hole, or at least staying out of trouble — perhaps the most important factor in making the cut at the Masters.

“Yeah, he was great, just to kind of see how he plays this place,” said Pendrith, who shot 77. “I learned a few things from him for sure just watching him play. He’s played here many, many times. He played awesome today — 1-under par is a fantastic round. He played really steady. Just kind of missed it in the right places and pecked away.”

It was an eventful round, and not just because of the chip-in and the hole-out with the hybrid.

Couples was even-par when he arrived at the par-4 ninth, and Harris had struck his drive down the middle of the fairway. Couples was about to tee off himself when one of the sound engineers in a trailing group wandered Waldo-like into the picture.

Couples waved at him. So did one of the gallery volunteers. After a minute, Couples resorted to cracking jokes.

Once the fella finally moved, Couples cracked his tee shot down the middle. He hit his approach to 7 feet, playing it perfectly off the ridge running through the green, and rolled in the birdie putt as the spectators roared their approval.

It sounded just like an echo from Amen Corner in 1992, when Couples' ball defied gravity at the par-3 12th and refused to roll back into Rae's Creek. He proceeded to hold off Raymond Floyd by two and win the green jacket.

“He’s a legend in the game and a legend here,” Pendrith said. “It’s his 40th time playing the Masters. People love him. They show great respect to him. They’re all cheering for him. It was really cool to play with him in my first and his 40th.”

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