(Augusta) It is very possible that Fred Couples will play the rest of the weekend at the Masters Tournament. In the case of Tiger Woods, it is less certain.
Tournament champion in 1992, Couples concluded his second round on Saturday morning with a bogey for a cumulative score of 145, one stroke over par, and one stroke under the potential qualifying threshold.
If this scenario plays out, Couples will, at age 63, become the oldest golfer to qualify for the final two rounds of the Masters Tournament.
The record belongs to Germany’s Bernhard Langer, who was about three and a half months younger than Couples when he had his name etched into the tournament’s history book in 2020.
It would also be the 31st time in his career that Couples has appeared in the final two rounds of the tournament. In this regard, he would be preceded only by Jack Nicklaus, who achieved the feat on 37 occasions.
At some point in his career, Couples crossed the qualification threshold at 23 consecutive editions of the Masters Tournament, which allowed him to equal the mark of South African Gary Player.
Woods could repeat that feat on Saturday. A five-time winner in Augusta, Woods started his day with a plus-2 aggregate score — then equal to the potential qualifying mark — and seven holes to play to complete his second round, which began with cold and rainy weather on Saturday morning.
Author of a birdie on the 15th hole, Woods however made bogeys on the 17th and 18th greens. Thus, he finished with a cumulative record of 147 (74-73), three strokes over par and one stroke over the potential qualification threshold, which still stood at plus-2.
The golfers are trying to complete the second round, which was suspended Friday due to bad weather, before the third round begins later Saturday.
The mercury was below 10 Celsius early in the morning, and the weather forecast called for rain all day, with the possibility of thunderstorms.
American Brooks Koepka had time to complete his second round on Friday, and he leads the standings with a cumulative score of 132, 12 under par.
Spaniard Jon Rahm was second, one stroke behind Koepka, with one more hole to go to complete his second round.
Rahm had cut a shot ahead of Koepka with a birdie on the 15th hole, but followed it up with a bogey on the 16th green. He recovered, however, with another birdie on the 17th green.
With two consecutive rounds of 68 for a total of 136, amateur golfer Sam Bennett ranks third, four shots behind the leader. Like Koepka, Bennett, an American, had time to complete his second round on Friday.
In the long history of the Masters, Ken Venturi, in 1956, is the only amateur to have posted a better score than Bennett after 36 holes, a stroke better.
