Fred Couples Leads Senior Challenge at Masters, Again

For the over-50s in the 2017 Masters field, Fred Couples led from the front in yesterday’s first round, as he so often does.

Fred Couples Leads Senior Challenge at Masters, Again

Fred Couples, 57 years old and the US Masters champ of 1992, shot 73, one over par, yesterday to share 19^th place on the leaderboard gong into today’s second round.

Today will be Couples’ 120^th Masters round, placing him 10^th on the all-time list, ahead of Doug Ford (119 rounds) and six behind Tommy Aaron (126). Another steady performance today will secure two more rounds for the PGA Tour Champions star over the weekend. That should not surprise anyone; in his previous 31 Masters starts dating back to 1983, Couples has only missed the cut three times.

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Larry Mize, 58, shot 74, two over par yesterday. It is 30 years since Augusta-born Mize won the 1987 Masters and he will be hoping to make the cut for the 20^th time today, in his 34^th Masters appearance.

A shot further back is another golfer playing his 34^th Masters, Germany’s Bernhard Langer, 59, who shot 75, three-over-par to take a share of 41^st place.

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Langer, who collected his 29^th win on the PGA Tour Champions earlier this year, will be hoping to stay nearer to level par today in order to make the cut for the fourth time in the past five Masters.

Level with Langer is 50-year-old American Steve Stricker, who has a pair of top-three finishes in his first career starts on the PGA Tour Champions this year.

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Welshman Ian Woosnam is at four over par after 18 holes, and the 1991 Masters champ needs something very special to make the cut in his 30^th Masters. Scotland’s Sandy Lyle, also 59 and the champ of 1988, is making his 36^th Masters appearance this week – the most of anyone in the field – but he lies a shot adrift of Woosnam, his friend and rival since childhood.

Jose Maria Olazabal, 51, is level with Lyle, while the oldest golfer in the 2017 Masters, 60-year-old Mark O’Meara is six over par, along with 54-year-old Vijay Singh.