Fred Couples opened the tournament with an even par 72, good enough for 36th place. A second round 71, that included five birdies, two bogeys and one double, vaulted him all the way up to 11th place.

Fred’s third round, however, would not go so well. A triple bogey at the par 4 7th and a double at the difficult par 4 17th would lead to a 77, dropping Fred all the way back to 36th place again. A final round 75 dropped Fred further down the leaderboard into a tie for 46th place. The 7-over total placed Fred fifteen shots behind winner Kenny Perry.

The gallery from the Memorial can be found here.

Many Fred fans attended the first round. In fact Forum member Miked330 contributed to this page by writing a short text.

��� Solid opening round today by Fred.�[...] It was a good time out there as usual. Fred has a new putter in the bag, which was nice to see. It’s still a [Taylor MAde], but it is a more conventional heel shafted putter. He really putted well today. He burnt about 5 or 6 edges from 20 feet plus and was pretty solid on the shorties, for the most part.

�� [...] I�caught up to fred just in time for his birdie streak. He hit his 2nd on #5 to about 20 feet and 2 putted for bird. [...]�bombed a drive about 30 yards past davis and 40 or 50 past Parry on 6. Stuffed it to 5 feet and made it; got up and down out of the bunker on 7 for birdie. Beauty on #8 to about 7 feet for birdie followed by the classic 20 foot [3-putt] on #9. His 2nd putt was really hard, to be fair. Great putt on #10 from about 15 feet for birdie. #11 was the strangest hole of the day. Fred laid up of the tee with [an] iron and promptly played his 2nd layup straight into the creek. It was like he was aiming in there. [It was the] weirdest shot I’ve ever seen him hit. [...] Hit a great putt on #12 that seriously went through the hole, no idea how it missed. Burnt the edge on 13 from 35 feet. Hit a great shot on 14 but had a tough downhiller and missed it low. Hit 2 beauties on 15 for an easy bird. He left his eagle putt on the lip; he was pissed. On 16, he hit a solid shot but he misjudged the wind and made bogey. 17 and 18 were solid pars with a great 2 putt at the last.

���� Fred really hit it great all day. Could have easily been 66 or 67. It’s amazing how good he strikes it. There is no comparison to the sound of the ball coming off of his irons. its awesome! Also,the fairway bunkers are basically unplayable out there with the new rakes.�I don’t know if they mentioned it on�TV or not. No one that�I saw even got close to the green from out of them. Davis pretty much hit a shank out of the bunker on 18 and made double. Thankfully fred avoided all of them. They’re brutal.

[...] I�should be back up there tomorrow and for sure [on saturday and sunday] [...]

Finally, here are some pictures of the first round and at last, some images taken by Fred fan Brian during wednesday’s Pro-Am.

Thursday

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To many fans, this is Fred’s best chance at a PGA Tour event this year. While the Masters was more or less a surprise, especially after all the changes made to the course, Couples is expected to do well at the 2006 Memorial, course that he knows by heart.

Playing with very good friend Davis Love III on thursday at 8:30 local time, Fred will have to go out and post a good score to remain in the leading group after the completion of the first round. Last year, when we look back at the numbers he posted, his first round of 71 (-1) is probably what costed him�the win. Despite all the drama that occured on the final round, a 69 (-3) on thursday could have been what Fred was looking for.

Stay tuned for more coverage of this exciting tournament!

Playing in the last group with David Toms, Fred played some inspired golf on the back side, after an ordinary first nine.

After a first birdie in four rounds at the par-5 11th hole, Couples birdied the par-3 12th for a fourth straight day, with an amazing iron shot. After another birdie at the par-4 14th, Couples probably hit the shot of the day at the par-5 15th, where his 4-iron from 204 yards on a downhill lie stopped 6 feet past the hole. Missing the short eagle putt, Fred managed to get the birdie and the outright lead.

Then on the par-3 16th hole, the man tried to attack the flag stick with a 6-iron, but it caught the front bunker and led to a bogey. Meanwhile, co-leader Bart Bryant was making a birdie at 17th, forcing Couples to make birdie either at 17th or 18th, two of the toughest holes of the course. Unfortunately, it did not happen, despite the fact that Couples gave himself a 12-footer for birdie on 17th.

Obviously, many fans are disapointed by the outcome of the 2005 Memorial. Outright leader at some point, Couples dropped to second place after Bart Bryant pulled out some amazing golf shots, including an impossible par save at 18th. While some people would say that Fred lost the tournament by missing the eagle at 15th, it is important to understand that Couples did not lose the 2005 Memorial; Bart Bryant won it.

This weekend was very encouraging not only for all Fred fans, but for himself too. The man has to know that he can compete in any tournament now. With a new back brace that appears to be working pretty well, it will be interesting to see how he does the next three weeks, as he will three of his favourite courses.

For his second place, Couples received a check of $594,000 US, and is now 42nd on the money list. On monday, the man could also break in the top 30 of the World Rankings with his excellent play at the Memorial.

Fred fans won’t have to wait very long to see Couples in action again; the man is playing again this week, at Congressional, where he won his first tournament in 1983. Stay tuned !

Article from Pgatour.com

From Dispatch.com (sunday edition)

From Dispatch.com (saturday edition)

Fred Couples was in the final group with eventual winner Ernie Els. Couples finished second last year. He won the Memorial in 1998.

While an inward half 35 was an up and down affair, the outward half featured great shotmaking that lead to a 31. Couples, playing with new Bridgestone irons this week, is leading the field in greens-in-regulation.

To read today’s interview, click here.

Couples will tee off with Toms at 1:35 eastern on Sunday. CBS coverage is from 2-6 PM eastern.

On thursday, Fred hit 94,4 % of the greens in regulation, but experienced (again) problems with the short stick. In fact, the man had 34 putts, which is almost two per green. Couples however managed to shoot an under par round, with pars on all par-5′s.

On friday, Fred continued his excellent play with his irons, but the biggest difference came from his performance on the greens; 27 putts. The man carded 7 birdies, including a nice chip-in at the 8th hole and birdies on all par-3′s!

With two more rounds to go, Fred can definetly be considered as a serious contender. In 2004, Fred had the same cumulative of 138 (-6) heading into the weekend, and shot 68 and 68 to finish second to Ernie Els.

Tomorrow, Couples will have to take advantage of par-5′s, thing that he has not done so far in the tournament. (The man is even par on the par-5′s). Fred is playing with Steve Flesch at 12:59 PM, which is two groups behind Tiger Woods. Expect some TV coverage (in between Tiger walking, stretching, lining up his putts, talking with his caddie and at last playing golf) if Fred goes low on the front nine. It should be a very interesting weekend !