Fred Couples misses Masters cut for the first time

The 1992 champion missed the cut at Augusta National for the first time Friday, ending his consecutive cuts streak at 23. His streak, interrupted only when he didn’t play in 1987 and 1994, had tied a record set by Gary Player from 1959-82.

“It’s been a long time,” he said. “It’s been fun.”

Couples, who had been the only Masters champion never to miss a cut, came to No. 18 needing a birdie to make the weekend, and he gave himself a great chance with a 10-footer above the hole. But he missed it by inches, and immediately looked skyward as the crowd groaned.

“When I hit it, I thought I’d made it,” he said.

Instead, his even-par 72 put him at 4-over 148 and one stroke above the cut line. The top 44 and ties play the weekend, and he tied for 46th.

“I thought if I could birdie a few holes, it’d be close,” Couples said. “I needed one more.”

Couples wasn’t the only big name to miss the cut. Sergio Garcia won’t be shedding the “best player to never win a major” tag this week, finishing at 4-over with Couples, three-time major champion Ernie Els, Luke Donald and Augusta native Charles Howell III. Rory Sabbatini kept the Par 3 Contest curse going, finishing at 5-over 149.

Steve Stricker (150), and former champions Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal (151) and Ben Crenshaw (152) went home early, too.

Couples had to scramble to make the cut last year, but that was when his back was aching so badly he’d played only two competitive rounds coming into the Masters and was practically doing yoga between shots to keep himself loose. He arrived in far better shape this year, fresh from a tie for fourth at the Houston Open last weekend that was his best finish since tying for third at the 2006 Masters.

But he got off to an ugly start Thursday with a bogey on No. 1, and things never really improved. He shot a 4-over 40 on the front nine and finished with a 76, leaving him too much work to do Friday.

“As well as I played last week, I think I set my sights a little high yesterday,” he said. “I went out and I struggled and I tried to hit better shots than I could, and I went from 2-over to 3-over to 4-over, and you’re kind of done.”

Couples was greeted with cheers of “Go, Freddie!” and “Have a good one, Freddie!” after he teed off on No. 1 Friday. But he could never get anything going, not making a birdie until the par-5 13th.

“You’re not going to shoot good scores if you’re not making a few birdies out there,” he said. “There’s a lot of hard holes and you’re going to make bogeys.”

He won’t be making anything this weekend. For the first time in two-plus decades, Couples won’t be around.

“I’m kind of disappointed in that. But I’m really disappointed with the way I played,” he said. “… The streak is part of the deal. But now it’s gone.”