Fred Couples makes idiot claim after missing | Golf News

Fred Couples insists you’d have to be an “idiot” not to love Augusta National.

The 1992 champion spoke after missing the cut at the Masters with a 9-over complete. The 66-year-old was 2-under through 14 holes on Thursday but collapsed on 15 with a 9. Two double bogeys adopted. His 6-over spherical was accompanied by a 75 on Friday.

Yet despite missing the cut, Couples stays deeply enamored with Augusta National. “First of all, you would have to be an idiot not to love Augusta National,” he said. It got here after Phil Mickelson’s conduct toward the Masters locker room workers in parking zone after his win said it all.

“I don’t know if you can use those words, but they might like that, hearing that. You know, as a kid you grow up watching it. I can’t tell you, you know, Ed Sneed and what he did, Hubert Green, and then Jack Nicklaus winning and Tom Weiskopf. Those were all the greats. Weiskopf, Green, Sneed, they never won, and maybe they should have.

“Then you come right here, and you finally see it, and you go, , it is — I imply, the only other man I’ve actually heard use the same phrases is Phil. It’s like paradise. People like it, but I contemplate it to be just the best stroll you could possibly ever have.”

“There are great programs all over the world, but there are none of them like this.”

The admiration is reciprocated. He’s beloved by patrons and consistently makes himself available to the in-house media. Reflecting on his affinity for the course, he said, “I’ve a lot of respect for this place. I’ve a lot of respect for golf, and if you play, , 20 occasions a 12 months, in the previous days, , you get pissed off. Then your thoughts is pondering when you are on the market taking part in.

“Here my mind is always — even at 60 — I don’t know what year I made the cut, and it honestly didn’t seem that difficult.

“Last 12 months, , I had a great alternative to do the same, and I missed it by a couple of strokes, but just like the last six holes I struggled. I believe I performed them 3-over to miss the cut. But even standing right here, — has everybody teed off on one? So there’s one, 9, down in the swale, eight, seven. It’s just whoever constructed this had an concept, and they completed it.

“All they’ve done is lengthened the tees. They’re changing greens, but they’re really not. It’s not like they’ve changed greens where you don’t even understand what they’re doing. Maybe the 13th.”