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Couples Sanguine over End of Streak

Editor's Note: After finishing 36 holes at the Masters Tournament at 4-over par 148, Fred Couples saw his streak of 23 straight cuts made come to an end. Couples is now tied for the record with Gary Player. After his round yesterday, which left him one stroke over the cut line of plus-3, Couples discussed his 2008 performance with reporters.

Q. The cut line and your streak in jeopardy, what do you think?

FRED COUPLES: For sure I didn't know what it was. It looks like it's going to be 3, so I definitely needed that putt on 18. But it's been a long time, and it's been fun.

Q. You had a great eagle opportunity at 13 that came up just short. Talk about that putt.

FRED COUPLES: Well, it was a 40-footer, and it looked pretty good, but it rolled down there and that was the first birdie I made for the day. I just didn't make enough birdies. I had a few good putts but not -- I never had many like I had on 18. I didn't have many 15- or 12-footers for birdies. You're not going to shoot good scores if you're not making a few birdies out there because there's a lot of hard holes and you're going to make bogeys.

Q. You were a champion here in 1992, and the streak ties the record. That probably says as much about you as a player and your ability. What does it mean to you to have that durability and success here?

FRED COUPLES: Well, the reason I have that streak is because I won in '92, which was the big honor, and to make the cuts, to be quite honest with you, I don't consider that great of a deal. Playing well in this tournament I think is my goal. And even as well as I played last week, you know, I think I set my sights a little high yesterday and I went out and I struggled and I tried to hit better shots than I could, and I went from 2-over to 3-over to 4-over, and you're kind of done. So going out today my goal was certainly to make this cut. I don't think I'm going to make it, but I don't know anyone who goes to a tournament where they're hoping to make the cut. I'm not going to make it; I'm kind of disappointed in that. But I'm really disappointed with the way I played.

Q. Can you talk about how hard you were grinding the last couple holes, knowing what you had to do?

FRED COUPLES: Well, you've got to grind -- if you're 10-over you want to grind because you don't want to shoot 15-over. The whole thing is a grind. I mean, I'm sure Tiger is out there, whatever he's shooting, even par, and grinding, and Phil at 5-under is grinding. And when you're 4-over or 5-over, you're just trying to hang in there and give yourself a chance. I hit two great drives on 13 and 15, and I had 7-iron and a 5-iron, and the 5iron I hit well over the green but made a nice birdie putt. You're not going to play Augusta very good if you're just birdieing two par-5s. That's not what you want to do.

The transcript for the above interview is courtesy of ASAP Sports.

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