MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2022

Fred Couples

Quick Quotes

Q. One simple question: Can you recall your feelings the moment the ball hit the bank in '92? Did you think it was going to go in the water?

FRED COUPLES: Well, when it didn't move, no. It hit so far down the bank that it just hit.

Q. Was it almost flat?

FRED COUPLES: Just hit and never moved, so once the reaction was over, then I knew it wasn't going in, but I couldn't wait to get up there to chip it. I didn't want to wait too long, but, yeah, it just was quick. If it had hit a foot higher, it would have picked up a little speed and I'm sure gone in, but it was down there where I could stand up to it.

Q. Was it a misaimed shot?

FRED COUPLES: Yeah, it was, but I've had that shot several years before I was in contention and stuff, and a lot of times I pull them. Then you go long left, and I have made bogeys there before, and I thought I was playing so well that I could hit it and cut it, and I pushed it, but I hit it solid enough it at an angle that it carried where an 8-iron would have gotten over the bunker, but, luckily, didn't go up the bank like a lot of balls and start trickling down, but it was definitely pushed.

Q. Was there any concern when it was in the air that it wasn't going clear the water?

FRED COUPLES: Well, I knew it was going to clear the water, and, again, it it was not a correct shot. It wasn't a mishit, so it was just can it go up four more yards, and it didn't. Luckily, it was four more yards shorter, but it wasn't one of those where I went, oh, my God, it's in the water. I just thought it might have a shot of getting up on that front right bank.

Q. How many times have you been asked about it since?

FRED COUPLES: A few times this week and a few times on the street and a few times at restaurants, but I will say this: Once it goes in the water, all hell breaks loose. You don't even know what to do on your third shot, where to go, and that becomes the real concern. If you hit it in the water on the first round, you just go drop, and you hit a sand wedge, 65, 70 yards, and you make 4 or 5, but once you are leading or near the lead, then a lot of things start to go, and I was very lucky it stayed up on the bank.

Q. That being a Sunday afternoon --

FRED COUPLES: Well, yeah, then you drop it. Then you're telling yourself you have to make 4 here. I had to make 4 to keep the lead. Then if you hit a little thin over and you make 6, it's happened to a lot of people, but I got very lucky.