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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2011

Fred Couples

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

Q. Good day?
FRED COUPLES: Yeah. It was okay. I mean, I got it around all right. The toughest thing out there, it was a touch breezy but not too crazy. We all kind of shot the same. I did a few nice things, and I ended up three-putting a couple times from a long way away. 17 wasn't so far. But other than that, made a few par putts and I needed a lot more birdies.

Q. You were stretching as you went from hole to hole?
FRED COUPLES: Yeah, well, I've been feeling terrible for two weeks, so I'm going to try my best to get through this tournament and then take some time off. I feel better than I did at Houston, that's for sure.

Q. When you went to these recent doctors, did they have any explanation for why it's worse now?
FRED COUPLES: Well, I mean, it was bad as far as MRIs and all that, but I've been doing well for a long time. This last time it didn't look much different, but I mean, since October it's -- to be honest with you, it hurts just to stand. So I keep moving around trying to feel good, and I feel like an idiot. But I don't think I'm going to be able to take much more of this, unless it just goes away somehow.

Q. You're still having trouble sleeping?
FRED COUPLES: You know, they have some pills for that now. Nothing bad, just I'm doing that, because a lot of it is I feel so tired when I wake up, and I sleep maybe an hour, and that's not really much fun.
You know, but it is what it is. I've been well for a long time, and hopefully I'll be all right in a month or two.

Q. You mentioned your choice of extremely fashionable footwear. You kind of spawned a whole industry after last year.
FRED COUPLES: Well, I mean, most people are represented by companies, so I wear Ecco. But a few people, Jack Nicklaus I saw wearing them, so that was kind of fun. But at the clubs where I play, everyone wears them, and that's out in the desert. I think tomorrow morning I'll probably have my regular shoes on and hopefully play well.
I was told a lot of times, last year I wore the other shoes and shot 75 so not to wear them. But the way I feel, I think it'll be a little bit better when it's a little wetter, even though it might be dry tomorrow and I might wear these shoes again. But they're doing well. I mean, they're all excited to have them, and I think people are getting them now, so that makes it easier on me.

Q. Are you surprised how many other companies kind of jumped on that bandwagon?
FRED COUPLES: Yeah, a couple of them are extremely close to the same look. I don't know, I just see them.
You know, I think that's okay. They've sold a lot of them and they'll continue to sell them. I think they're a great shoe, I really do. I wouldn't wear them if it was not comfortable and couldn't play golf in them, that's for sure.

Q. A lot of the older past champions struggled today. You had a pretty good round. Does that just speak to how you like this place, even though you're not feeling 100 percent?
FRED COUPLES: Yeah, I mean, I don't know what any of them shot, but it's a pretty hard course, and I'm -- tomorrow I have a good tee time. If the weather is nice and warm, you know, I have to play really, really well to shoot a lower score than I'm shooting. That's the problem. I can get it around. I can slap it around and make a good up-and-down here. But if you look at some -- I'm not saying I'm going to be 5-under par, but some of these guys are getting into bunches, and I'm not physically strong enough to keep hitting shot after shot after shot, so I dilly-dally around. I think I'm talented to make a birdie every now and then, but I make some bogeys.
You know, Houston I played pretty well and I shot even par. I never was more than 1-under or 2-under and I was never more than 1-over. You know, that's not going to beat anyone, but I was trying to get ready for here. And when I come here and I'm 2-under and end up three-putting the 17th, which is still a good round, but 2-under is a lot better than 1-under in this tournament. There's no doubt about that. So I'm a little disappointed in that.
But good time tomorrow.

Q. 14, did your tee shot hit something?
FRED COUPLES: It hit a tree. I pull-hooked it, yes. And that's the best shot I hit all day long, the second shot. So just stuff like that; I made a par there, I got it up-and-down from 75 yards on the 5th hole, and I really -- I shouldn't say I missed many birdie putts, that's for sure, because I didn't have many. But I do like the place, and I expect to shoot a nice score tomorrow. What that is, I don't know, but if I shoot 75 or something like that, I'll be highly, highly disappointed.

Q. Is it the kind of thing where you could wake up tomorrow and feel really bad?
FRED COUPLES: No, it's been this way since October. It hasn't -- it's gotten a little worse, but I had some shots last week. But no, I'll wake up just fine.

Q. Are you familiar with cortisone shots?
FRED COUPLES: Yeah, yeah. I want to play here and do well and then I can go (indiscernible.)

Q. Any opinions on the USGA, R&A changing the rule on the video call-in? Did you hear about that?
FRED COUPLES: No.

Q. Basically if a fan calls in you no longer get disqualified but you still get the two-stroke penalty.
FRED COUPLES: I think that's good. I mean, I think that's good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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