Fred Couples struggled on the outward half in the first round of the Masters. He shot four over par, including five bogeys and one birdie leading to a 40 on the front nine. He was unable to get anything going on the back nine – bogeying the 14th and birding the 15th between seven pars.
The day started poor for Fred as he hit his approach shot on the first hole into the greenside bunker. He was unable to get up and down leading to his first bogey of the day. A chip in on the difficult fifth brought him back to 1-over, but bogeys on three of the next four took the wind out of the sails.
As the backnine started, you could tell from his body language that he was frustrated with how it was going. On the 11th, Fred hit his approach to the right collar of the green and converted for par. On the 12th, he was a bit long and converted for par. On the par five 13th, 
Fred elected to hit 3-wood off the tee, but landed the tee shot in the right rough and had to lay up to about 70 yards. It was his third shot that told you how the day was going when what looked like a perfect pitch that would stop within a couple of feet of hole unexpectedly released on him and went 10 feet by. He was unable to make the putt and you could really tell that the round was just not going Fred’s way.
A bogey at his nemesis hole – the 14th – was followed by a birdie at the 15th. Fred left himself about 30 feet for eagle on the hole and his putt just missed on the backside. On 16, Fred hit a beautiful tee shot that ended up about 7 feet from the hole. He was unable to convert the birdie putt and a frustrated Fred could only shake his head as he walked off the green after a tap in par.
Pars at 17 and 18 led to a backnine at even par and a round of 4-over, 76.
From Fred’s post round interview, he was obviously none too pleased about his play, but he is optimistic about tomorrow. From the photos from the first hole, it appeared that Fred had something on his mind other than golf. (Thanks to Fantastic Freddie Fan Andy for the heads up on this.)
FRED COUPLES: I misclubbed a lot of shots, and they were hard shots. I didn’t hit very good ones, and I didn’t make many putts, so when you do that, it kind of adds up to 76, which is very mediocre.
Q. You came in obviously playing well off of Houston. I’m sure you’re disappointed.
FRED COUPLES: I just was a little bit off, so tomorrow I’ll play in the afternoon, go get some rest, and I hope I’m not back on the same drag where I don’t feel good.
But I hit the ball well. It wasn’t like I embarrassed myself. You’ve got to make birdies. If I could have made a couple more birdies and hung in there, maybe I wouldn’t have tried a couple shots that I put myself in horrible places by trying to get a little greedy. If you’re even par or even 3- or 4-over, you make a couple bad swings, next thing you know you get to a spot where there’s no way you can get out of it.
Fred has shot 76 twice in the opening round of the Masters – last year and in 2000. He finished tied for 30th last year and tied for 11th in 2000. He has shot worse than 76 in the first round only one time – in 1996 when he opened with 78, but finished in a tie for 15th place. Fred has only shot worse than 73 in the second round twice since 1990. Last year he had a second round score of 76 and he shot 75 in 2003. In the last 10 years, Fred’s average second round score has been 71.8.
With few exceptions, Fred’s worst round in the Masters seems to be the first round. He has only broken 70 three times in the 23 years of the Masters. He has broken 70 eight times in the second round. He has broken 70 five times in the third round and three times in the final round.
Fred finds himself eight shots out of the lead held by two players – Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman. He’ll tee of on Friday at 12:57 PM.
Several photos from both today’s round and yesterday’s practice round have been added to the gallery. (Thanks to Fred fans Zach and White Knight for several of the photos.)
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