Playing far away from the final pairings, the man played a quiet but efficient round, espceially at the turn of his first nine where he carded three consecutive birdies to quickly climb up the leaderboard.

Fred stats this week look quite promising at the eve of the Memorial, where he�always plays great. The man crushed the ball and was close to perfection in the sand saves category. A nice improvement can also be noticed�in the putting column, with an average of 29.5 putts per round, good for a share of 43rd place.

Despite the fact that Fred is still using the same putter, he was seen working on the practice green a lot this week. In fact, Couples even practiced Phil Mickelson’s “Around-the-world” drill. Could we see this routine at the Memorial? Stay tuned !

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Starting on the back side, Couples made the turn at +1, despite a very good opening stretch. Then on the front side, he carded two birdies and only one bogey, to get back to even par for the day. The man probably played his best golf of the day on the last 7 holes. In fact, he left himself plenty of birdie opportunities inside 20 feet, but failed to convert on many occasions. However, fans will be pleased to know that Fred made everything inside 6 feet.

Heading into the second round, Couples is tied for 48th place and only six shots back of leader Stewart Cink.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the 2006 Colonial, including some pictures taken by fans during wednesday’s Pro-Am.