Fred Couples tees off on the 2nd hole at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge on Sunday.
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The last time we saw Fred Couples, he was injured. He played the Masters in April with a long-standing back problem that was bothering him.
He couldn’t hit an iron, a devastating thought for one of the greatest golfers of all time.
“I went around, every wood I hit was really, really solid, but it howls,” he said. “But an iron, as soon as I hit, I — at 7, I took a 6-iron because I didn’t know what else to take, and I carried it about 100 yards. No. 9, I hit a great drive and then had 125, and I had 50 yards left for my third. I can’t hit an iron. My body won’t let me.
“It was really, I don’t want to say not fun because it’s Augusta, but swinging was a chore.”
After missing the cut with rounds of 80 and 76 at Augusta National, he complained about other incidents in his meeting with reporters.
“My back is bad,” said the 1992 Masters winner. “I’m wearing more stuff just to play. The longer the club, the better. I had no speed. I hit 260. But most of them went straight. It was fun. It was really difficult.”
“If I had had more woods yesterday, honestly, I probably could have shot 75, but I didn’t know it – I kind of downplayed how bad I felt. I should have had an 11-wood to hit 140 yards. I couldn’t even hit an 8-iron. I couldn’t swing.”
That brings us to The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge this week, where Couples has returned. The course, about a half-hour east of his hometown of Seattle, is hosting the PGA Tour Champions’ Boeing Classic, and Couples was smiling.
At the beginning of the week, his bag was full of all kinds of clubhead covers. He had a driver. And a 3-wood. And a 5-wood.
And a 4-Rescue. And a 5-Rescue. And a 6-Rescue. These had apparently replaced the annoying irons.
A social media employee of the PGA Tour Champions noticed the scenario and started this exchange with Couples:
“You have an old man’s bag.”
“I have six woods,” Couples said. “Driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 4-rescue, 5-rescue, 6-rescue.”
“And I love life. It will get me through these three days.”
The result after two rounds? Two under par (70) on the first day. A 71 on the second day. He was competitive.
It also supported a promise he made in Augusta in April.
The 64-year-old would be back at the Masters in 2025. And 2026.
“I plan to stay healthy, make the cut and tell Fred (ANGC chairman Fred Ridley) I’m coming back next year,” Couples said. “It was really ugly. There were several times yesterday when I shouldn’t have played, but I thought I could help the guys I’m playing with a little bit, even if they’re 50 yards faster than me because of the wind. That’s why I didn’t want to give up.”
Did he have any idea how long he would continue playing?
“Well, I have to get my back treated,” Couples said. “I could play forever, but I can’t play like this. I withdrew in Newport (the Hoag Classic of Champions), I withdrew in Palm Springs (the Galleri Classic of Champions), and I’m not going to withdraw here, and I felt better in those places to make sure I could come here. I played nine holes in a practice round and didn’t let it get that far, never really hit an iron. Then I came here and you’re in contention, and you hit a good drive a little farther and now you’ve got 160 yards. I can’t hit a wood, so I hit an iron.
“Yesterday on the 17th hole I thought I couldn’t run anymore, so I just took my time and made bogeys on holes 16, 17 and 18 to finish. But everything is OK.”
