When Fred Couples tapped in for bogey on the final hole on Sunday at the Masters, he still heard plenty of cheers from the patrons gathered around the ninth green.
"We love you Freddie," one young man shouted out, as Couples, who started his final round on the 10th hole, handed the yellow ball he used on the hole to a young boy at the edge of the green.
Couples may not draw spectators like his good friend, Tiger Woods, whom he played two practice rounds this week, but he's still pretty popular, no matter what he shoots. Even while he labored to back-to-back 76s on the weekend to end up in a tie for 50th place at the 2023 Masters, on every hole, patrons were still shouting, "Fred-die!; let's go Fred-die" with the accent on the second syllable.
This week, Couples became the oldest player ever, at age 63 years, six months, and five days, to make the cut at The Masters when he fired 71-74 on Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday because of weather delays.
"I can't compete with Viktor Hovland or Jon Rahm or anybody," said Couples, who plays regularly now on the PGA Tour Champions. "But I can compete with myself, and that's really why I come. That's what I like to do is make the cut here at an older age."
It seems like yesterday to many of us elder golf statesmen when Freddie "Boom-Boom" Couples won the Masters. Who could forget his final round par save on the par-three 12th hole after his tee shot came up short of the green and miraculously stayed on the bank, avoiding running into Rae's Creek?
That was 1992, 31 years ago. Couples beat none other than 1976 champion Ray Floyd by two strokes. For four decades, Couples has been making himself home here at Augusta National.
He's tied with Gary Player (and now Tiger Woods) for the most consecutive cuts made at 23 (from 1983 to 2007) and this weekend.
And Couples can still bring it. During his opening round, he was still booming it out there, averaging just over 293 yards. And the iron play from his sickly smooth swing is always pretty sharp. But it was long week, especially with the stops and starts and brutal Saturday weather, so fatigue might have been a factor in the last two rounds
Still, Couples is more grateful than ever to be teeing it up here, and plans to come back next year, too, barring any health setbacks.
Paul Marchand, one of Couples' best friends and and his former college teammate at the University of Houston, has been Couples' longtime swing coach and he's followed his friend at Augusta for all but about four years in that stretch. The Texas Golf Hall of Fame member, who has a distinguished career as club professional, was there again this year, of course. He knows how special it is for Couples to play here.
"It's just meant a lot to him to be able to make the cut and to be the oldest to ever do that," said Marchand. "That's a record that kind of befits his longevity and good play over the years. When you're younger you don't even want to think about it. But he's at a point in his career where that means even more."
While Couples has had great longterm success on the PGA Tour as well as PGA Tour Champions, he has battled back issues over the years. This week, though, Marchand confirmed that Couple's back was in pretty good shape.
What many didn't know, however, is that Couples needs surgery for a double hernia, which he put off, so he could play this week.
It should only take six weeks or so to recover, so we can expect Couples to be back at Augusta National 2024, trying to set more records.
