AUGUSTA, Ga. — What year is it anyway? Fifty-year-old Fred Couples leads the Masters. Sixty-year-old Tom Watson is one stroke behind. A pair of 52-year-olds, Sandy Lyle and Bernhard Langer, also broke par Thursday.
They turned the opening round at Augusta National into old-timers day.
“How about that?” marveled Tiger Woods, who garnered most of the attention coming back from a five-month layoff over a sex scandal. “Winning breeds winning, winning breeds a lot of confidence. Whether you win on the regular tour, minitour, senior tour, it doesn’t matter.”
Couples and Watson still know a thing or two about winning, even though they no longer play regularly on the PGA Tour.
Wearing tennis shoes and no socks, Couples arrived at Augusta coming off three straight wins on the Champions Tour, and he showed he can still keep up with those young whippersnappers too. He posted the best score of his Masters career, a 6-under-par 66, to become the tournament’s oldest outright leader after the first round.
“Shocking,” Couples said.
Not really. Like all past champions, he knows his way around this place — every little hump in the green, every little spot you just can’t afford to be. That sort of inside knowledge is strengthened by the unique nature of the Masters, the only major played at the same course every year.
“I know the course very well. I know where to miss shots,” said Couples, who won the Masters in 1992 in the midst of making the cut in 23 straight appearances, matching the tournament record. “When I play well, I should shoot in the 60s here.”
Watson matched his best Masters round ever, a 67 that showed his stirring run in last year’s British Open was no fluke. Then again, he had every reason to be confident after winning a Champions Tour event and finishing sixth at Dubai against a strong field from the regular European tour.
Watson hasn’t given up on becoming golf’s oldest major champion. He had a shot to win the British Open last summer at age 59, but missed a par putt on the 72nd hole and lost to Stewart Cink in a playoff.
Shortly after sunrise, Watson went out to watch old friends Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer hit the ceremonial tee shots. Then, it was time to play for real.
“It’s a long shot for somebody of our age, honestly, to do it,” Watson said. “But still, they can do it.”
