Fred Couples: ‘You would have to be an idiot not to love Augusta National’

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fred Couples loves the Masters Tournament. He loves Augusta National. And for good reason.

The 66-year-old, who won the 1992 Masters, finished his 41st appearance in the Masters at 9 over and is going to miss the cut. It’s not a surprise, given he’s playing on his lifetime exemption and is one of the legends at the course continuing to give it a go, hoping for one last shot at glory.

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But even as Couples has aged, his love for the Masters has not. Couples was asked why he loved Augusta National, and he gave an incredible answer.

“First of all, you would have to be an idiot not to love Augusta National,” Couples started. “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 here, and you finally see it, and you go, you know, it’s — I mean, the only other guy I’ve really heard use the same words is Phil. It’s like paradise. People love it, but I consider it to be just the greatest walk you could ever have.”