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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

April 3, 2009

Fred Couples

HUMBLE, TEXAS

Q. You're playing well.
FRED COUPLES: I had a good day. You know, a good course. I played well last year. I like the shape of the course and my key today was a couple very good driving holes. I hit two great drives and played a few of the hard holes one, 2-under. That's the key to this golf course. I didn't -- I didn't birdie any par-5s but the other ones, I did well and 4-under is a good score.

Q. You got an all star cast out here this week, biggest galleries following Fred Couples.
FRED COUPLES: I don't know about that. I went to school here, saw a few Cougars that come out and watched and it's a good feeling and we had a great tee time. Yesterday we were out with a big gallery, too. They went home disappointed. 80 degrees and sunny, lot of wind and we walked off the course because we couldn't keep the ball from rolling on the green. That was probably a blessing although I was 1-under but I didn't want to play too many more holes yesterday. It was too tough.

Q. You said this is one place and The Masters where you think you can still come putt and obviously you're showing it.
FRED COUPLES: Well, there are a few places. I mean Riviera is another one and I did well. If I said that to myself every week I'd probably do better but, you know, there are some courses out here that are awfully hard and I still play them but this is the kind of course, it's not high rough, I putt pretty well on really fast greens and, you know, I have some confidence around here. It's a good feeling to play and plus going to school here, how can you beat that? You come back and play. If you're shooting 80, they're rooting for you. If you shoot 68, they're rooting for you.
It was cool and a little breezy today. Maybe four holes into it it really turned out to be beautiful out there today. One of the good things is the greens were pretty soft and, you know they were perfect. The golf course is great. Yesterday was pretty brutal and to be 1-under when we stopped was truly a good feeling and today to go out and make some birdies out there, it was good. I hit the ball pretty solid and I would say got it around nicely.

Q. Are the greens still running fairly fast?
FRED COUPLES: They're fast, yeah.

Q. Just a little bit softer?
FRED COUPLES: Yeah.

Q. Where did you finish yesterday?
FRED COUPLES: Finished on the -- was on the 17th tee.

Q. So you didn't have to play?
FRED COUPLES: No, I was on the tee.

Q. Talk a little bit in the contrast of the playing conditions. Today seems like a very perfect today.
FRED COUPLES: Yes. Well, obviously. Yesterday was sunny and windy and they pulled us off the course. So, you know, it just got too gusty and the greens were too fast and balls were rolling and there was no wind yesterday, it would be the same as today, perfect weather. Just unfortunate that many people came out to watch yesterday and we had to go off the course. Where as today, the huge galleries and it will be spectacular.

Q. You think guys playing in the afternoon who didn't play at all do they have a slight advantage?
FRED COUPLES: What would you think?

Q. I would think.
FRED COUPLES: Very good. Very good. I don't think you need to ask that question. I would say 1-under par on my pairing is in about fifth place. That will be in 30th place by the end of the day. It happens.
So, tomorrow, you know we'll get another early tee time and instead of playing at 1:00 I'll play at 8:30. That's a boon, too. The scoring is going to be way better in the afternoon, morning or they're going to play all day today.

Q. This is the course -- you obviously won on the other one. You've got to feel comfortable here. You've had a good tournament. Is it kind of carrying over? Do you feel comfortable here?
FRED COUPLES: I like the course. As they say, they have it set-up like Augusta. That would be not much rough and really fast greens and there's a lot of key driving holes. I felt like last year I didn't make too many blunders. I made some bogies and then today I hit some -- a beautiful drive on 18 and the 5th I birdied. To play those two holes 1-under you're probably picking up two shots on the field. I got it around nicely. Those were a couple scary tee balls especially for me and I hit two good ones. Lot of it is facing it and the way your eye looks at it. It's not an easy course, that's for sure. You can make bogies and doubles on a lot of holes. Guys do well, probably play those tough holes pretty well.

Q. What do you do the rest of the day? You have to play 36 tomorrow?
FRED COUPLES: No, just 18. Actually, no, what am I saying? We'll play 18 and have a cut and play another 18. I keep thinking today is Thursday. I'm going to go hit some balls for an hour, hour and a half and, you know, go back at 2:00 and rest. Thirty-six holes tomorrow. That will be a jolt for me.

Q. Is that for sure?
FRED COUPLES: We're going to find out.

End of FastScripts

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