Fred Couples' cut hopes sink away as Masters' back 9 bites again

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Fred Couples was making a spirited run at the Masters cut line on Friday when the back nine at Augusta National bit again, sending the 66-year-old packing for the weekend.

Teeing off in ideal conditions at 8:50 a.m. ET, Couples made his turn in 1-under-par for the day and 5 over for the tournament. That was hovering around the projected cut line, and Couples made it through the first leg of "Amen Corner" with a par on the difficult 11th hole.

That's when he sent his tee shot on the par-3 12th toward the right side of the green, where it hit and spun off into the water. That led to a double-bogey that dropped Couples to 7 over for the tournament. Two more bogeys on his way in added up to a 75 and 9 over for the tournament, well outside of the cut line.

It was eerily similar to Couples' first round, when he was just inside the top-10 at 2 under through 12 holes. His approach on the par-5 15th spun back into the water. So did his next attempt, leading to a quadruple bogey 9 that he followed with another ball in the water and a double bogey on the 16th.

"Quad double-double, wow. That's 8-over. I think that's almost impossible to do, but I did it," Couples said. "I've never wedged it into the water or really wedged it 15 yards over the green (on 15). In the old days I went for it every time, but not for 10 or 12 years, and then now it's water, water, water every time I look at the God damn thing, and I don't know why."

The 1992 Masters champion completed his 41st Masters on Friday. He acknowledged that if not for the quadruple on Thursday, he would have had a real shot at making a run at the cut.

Instead he missed the cut for the seventh time in eight years.

"If I would have parred there, I promise you I wouldn't have double-doubled, but maybe a couple of bogeys. Then today would have been a really a fun, entertaining day to see if I could shoot whatever," he said.

Couples used the word "fun" five times during his brief post-round interview, adding that one would have to be "an idiot" not to love Augusta National.

"People love it, but I consider it to be just the greatest walk you could ever have," Couples said. "There are great courses all over the world, but there are none of them like this."

--Derek Harper, Field Level Media