KIDWCKED
04-09-2010, 02:47 PM
c/p from espn by the a/p
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- With most of the world watching Tiger Woods, Fred Couples sauntered along in tennis shoes and no socks and shot a 6-under 66. It was his best score ever at the Masters and made the 50-year-old the oldest player to be the outright leader for any round.
"I never really thought about what I was shooting," said Couples, who already has won three times this year on the 50-and-older Champions Tour. "It was a fun day for me. I still think I can play, and if I putt well, I've got to be some kind of factor in my mind."
Tom Watson, at 60 the oldest player in this Masters, picked up from his amazing ride at last year's British Open with a bogey-free round of 67 that left him tied with Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, PGA champion Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi for second.
"My goals were to play better than I've played in the last five or six years, and I achieved that -- for the first round," Watson said. "I'm playing pretty well. I've said I have to play better than 90 percent to be successful on this golf course."
More from The Masters
Still, this day was always going to be about Woods.
No longer the same person after he was caught cheating on his wife, Woods looked every bit the same golfer Thursday when he opened with a 4-under 68 -- his best first round ever at Augusta National -- that left him only two shots behind Couples on an extraordinary opening day at the Masters.
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- With most of the world watching Tiger Woods, Fred Couples sauntered along in tennis shoes and no socks and shot a 6-under 66. It was his best score ever at the Masters and made the 50-year-old the oldest player to be the outright leader for any round.
"I never really thought about what I was shooting," said Couples, who already has won three times this year on the 50-and-older Champions Tour. "It was a fun day for me. I still think I can play, and if I putt well, I've got to be some kind of factor in my mind."
Tom Watson, at 60 the oldest player in this Masters, picked up from his amazing ride at last year's British Open with a bogey-free round of 67 that left him tied with Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, PGA champion Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi for second.
"My goals were to play better than I've played in the last five or six years, and I achieved that -- for the first round," Watson said. "I'm playing pretty well. I've said I have to play better than 90 percent to be successful on this golf course."
More from The Masters
Still, this day was always going to be about Woods.
No longer the same person after he was caught cheating on his wife, Woods looked every bit the same golfer Thursday when he opened with a 4-under 68 -- his best first round ever at Augusta National -- that left him only two shots behind Couples on an extraordinary opening day at the Masters.