Masters: Fred Couples fires Tiger Woods warning shot after practice round

Tiger Woods and Fred Couples embrace on the 9th green after their Tuesday morning practice round.

Tiger Woods believes he can win The Masters.

He said so himself on Tuesday, despite the injuries, ailments, and rehabilitation he has had to withstand over recent years.

But Fred Couples, a close confidant of Woods, agrees.

“I think the last thing he’s thinking about is making the cut,” Couples said Tuesday.

“Can he win here? You know what, yeah. I just watched him play nine holes, and nine holes are only nine holes on a Tuesday, but he never mishits a shot. But the idea of making a cut—I think he would laugh at that because he’s not here to do that; he’s here to win. He’s here to play really, really hard.”

Couples, Woods, and Justin Thomas played the front nine at Augusta National together on Tuesday morning, as the 1992 Masters champion had a front-row seat to see how Tiger played.

Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, and Fred Couples on the 9th green at Augusta National.

“He just hits it so good,” Couples added.

“He hit a tree there, so I actually out-drove him on the 9th, but the sound of the ball [impressed me].”

Should Woods go on to make the cut this week, he would set a Masters record for most consecutive weekends made with 24. That would surpass the mark set by Couples in 2007, who tied Gary Player’s record of 23 made cuts in a row. Player did so between 1959 and 1982.

Woods tied that record a year ago after shooting rounds of 74 and 73 on the par-72 layout. But he withdrew before the third round, citing an ankle injury.

“I think last year it was so bad that a lot of things just wore him down, playing in that rain, moving around slowly, sluggish,” Couples said of Woods’ performance a year ago.

Tiger Woods plays a shot from the 1st tee during a Tuesday practice round ahead of the 2024 Masters.

Woods went on to miss substantial time, as he needed surgery to fuse his ankle. He returned to play at the Hero World Challenge last December and played all 72 holes. Two months later, he started at the Genesis Invitational but withdrew due to an illness.

Yet, Woods admitted that his body “was not ready” at Riviera on Tuesday, hence his decision to skip The Players and prepare for Augusta.

Despite all of that, Couples still has complete faith in Woods going into the 2024 Masters.

“His ankle is bad. We know it,” Couples aid.

“But it looks like he’s here; he’s going to walk 72 holes, and if he keeps playing like that, he’ll be a factor.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.