At 65, Fred Couples Defies Age Once Again With 1-Under Masters Round

Fred Couples has played in The Masters 40 times. That's 141 rounds since his first outing in 1983. And at 65 years old, it would be fully acceptable to see him put up an 80 at Augusta National.

In fact, Couples did just that in the first round of 2024. He followed with a 76, and missed the cut.

But here in 2025, Couples is turning back the clock a bit. With a remarkable birdie on 1, and an even more remarkable eagle on 14, Couples finds himself in red numbers after a first-round 71 on Thursday.

"I've been saying it for 40 years, I just love the course and I feel like, to be honest with you, last year I was not really very healthy at all," Couples said after the round. "If I had the right clubs in my bag, even as bad as I felt, I really feel the way the scores were, I was disappointed when I finished, but I had a 7-wood, 9-wood, and those were so I could swing at them.

"Now I have a set of clubs I feel like I can hit around here. Tomorrow may be different. May be different shots. But it was fun. It was very fun day."

Couples has done this before. Just two years ago in 2023, he opened with a 71, before a 74 on Friday. That was good enough to make the cut then. He shot back-to-back scores of 76 on the weekend and finished in a tie for 50th. Not bad for a man who hasn't shot a round in the 60s at Augusta National since 2013, when he finished tied for 13th after an opening-round 68.

Thursday opened with some old-school Couples magic. An opening perfect drive was followed by a dead-on shot from 160 yards to the green, but it rolled off the side. But Couples wouldn't be denied, as a perfect soft pitch sent his neon yellow ball right in the cup for a birdie.

"I hit two really, really good shots on 1. I don't know if anyone saw it," Couples said. "Flew right by the hole and trickled and trickled down the embankment down where you don't want to ever be left. And I holed it. Putted it up in into the hole for birdie."

A bogey on 5 gave that shot back, but he birdied 9 and was looking solid. But a bogey on 11 and 13 had him sitting 1-over on the day. That's when he got to 14, and a perfect drive on the 440-yard Par 4 left him with 191 to the hole. He pulled out his 6-rescue iron.

"When I hit it, it was hit really, really well and it did just carry that ridge where Harris' (English) didn't and spun back. I thought I had enough to get over there and then they went crazy."

Couples said he can't ever remember eagling a Par 4 at Augusta, but "You know, it was fun," he said. Even though he couldn't actually see it go in, he knew.

"No, you wouldn't see it. It's over the hill and they start to go like that, and then the roar got pretty loud. It was a battle."

Couples is realistic about what might be coming tomorrow, as rain possibly comes in to Augusta and changes the scoring conditions.

"I'm 65. I don't feel 70. I don't feel 50. Again, I don't feel like tomorrow -- you know, could blow, rain be difficult. I don't feel like I'm going to go out there and forget how to play.

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to shoot 77. It's a hard course. I just don't hit it far enough to make it easier. I can't knock it on a Par-5 anymore. I used to do play them 2-, 3-under. Hell, now play them 1-over today and felt like I played them pretty damn well."

And pretty damn well sums up exactly how he played Thursday. He's likely not going to win his second Green Jacket, but he's got a good shot at playing the weekend. And that's always a good thing for golf.