Why Fred Couples ‘loves life’ – and ‘old man’s wallet’

Fred Couples, the last time I saw him, was injured. In April, at the Masters, the backstory once spread, and brought trouble.

He couldn’t hit the iron, a shocking thought for one of the greatest golfers of all time.

“I went, all the woods I hit were really strong, but they howled,” he said. “But the iron, as soon as I hit it, I—on the 7 I hit a 6-iron because I didn’t know what else I was going to hit, and I carried it about 100 yards. No. 9, I hit a big drive and I had 125, and I had 50 yards left on third down. I can’t ring the bell. My body won’t let me do it.

“It was true, I don’t want it to be fun because it’s Augusta, but swinging was work.”

After shooting rounds of 80 and 76 to miss the cut at Augusta National, he broke down in tears in his session with reporters.

“My back is shot,” said the 1992 Masters winner. “I have a lot of things to play. If the club goes on, I’m good. I had no speed. I was driving the 260. But most of them went straight. It was fun. It was really hard.

“If I had more wood, honestly, yesterday, I could have shot 75, but I didn’t know – I underestimated how I felt. I had to have 11 woods to hit 140 yards. I couldn’t even hit an 8 iron. I couldn’t swing.”

With that, we go this week with The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, where the couple is back. The course, about a half-hour east of his hometown of Seattle, hosts the PGA Tour Champions’ Boeing Classic, and Couples was all smiles.

In his bag at the beginning of the week there were all kinds of covers. He had a driver. And 3 woods. And 5 wood.

And 4-recue. And 5-recue. And 6-recue. Those seemed to have replaced the pesky bells.

A PGA Tour Champions social media worker saw the setup, and started this exchange with the couple:

“He has an old man’s bag.”

“I have six pieces of wood,” said the couple. “Driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 4-salvage, 5-salvage, 6-salvage.

“And I love life. It will finish me in these three days.”

A decision in two stages? Two people under 70 on the first day. A 71 on the second day. He was arguing.

It also backed up the pledge he made back in April at Augusta.

The 64-year-old will return to the Masters in 2025. And in 2026.

“I plan to be healthy and tell Fred [ANGC chairman Fred Ridley] I’m also coming back next year,” said Couples. “This was really bad. This time I shouldn’t have played many times but I thought I could help my teammates a little even though they blew me by 50 yards so I didn’t want to. stop.”

Did he have any idea how long he would continue to play?

“Well, I have to fix my back,” said the couple. “I can play forever, but I can’t play like this. I withdrew from Newport [the Champions’ Hoag Classic]I withdrew from Palm Springs [the Champions’ Galleri Classic]and I’m not backing down here, and I feel better in those areas I’m trying to make sure I come here. I played nine holes in the practice round and played with it, I didn’t really hit an iron. And then I come out here and you’re in the contest, and you hit a good little drive and now you’re 160 yards. I can’t hit wood, so I hit iron.

“Yesterday on the 17th hole, I thought I wouldn’t be able to go, I just took my time and birdied 16, 17 and 18 to finish. But everything is fine.”

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for planning, writing and promoting news on the golf course. And when he’s not writing about how to hit the golf ball forward and straight, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash down his scores. You can contact him about any of these topics – his news, his game or his beer – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.