AUGUSTA // For all the talk of golf's new generation, experience still counts at the US Masters.
Fifty-one-year-old Fred Couples charged up the board yesterday, pushing his score to five-under par with a sizzling round of 68 to give himself a shot at becoming the oldest major champion ever.
Couples won the Masters in 1993 and made a serious run at another green jacket last year. He led after the first round and wound up sixth, seven strokes behind winner Phil Mickelson.
After an opening 71 on Thursday, Couples had four birdies over the first 12 holes, strolling around the course in comfortable golf sneakers like he owned the place.
McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros led after the first round, both at seven-under 65, and the freckle-faced youngster from Northern Ireland sliced another shot off his score with a birdie at the second hole.
Quiros also got to eight under before a bogey at the ninth knocked him back. His first-round score was 10 strokes better than his previous best at the Masters, and he showed no immediate signs of fading even though a stiffening breeze put some teeth in Augusta.
The 40-year-old Choi was on quite a roll. The South Korean, who has never won a major title, birdied five of the last six holes Thursday for a 67, then shot a three-under 33 on the front side yesterday - meaning he had played a stretch of 15 holes at eight under.
Choi has been a contender at Augusta before. In 2004, he finished third. A year ago, he was right in the mix all four days until slipping to a tie for fourth.
Another South Korean, 2009 PGA champion YE Yang, birdied three straight holes early on and briefly snatched the lead by pushing his score to eight under. Consecutive bogeys at the ninth and 10th stymied his momentum and he finished on five under after signing for a 72.
The 21-year-old McIlroy is one of golf's rising stars, and he teed off shortly after lunchtime looking to avoid the sort of meltdown that ruined his chances at last year's British Open.
After opening with a 63, he got caught up in the howling winds of St Andrews and soared to an 80. He fought back to finish third, followed by another third-place showing at the PGA Championship, and helped the Europeans win the Ryder Cup.
Meanwhile, Ian Woosnam is not sure if he has played his last Masters after nearly pulling out with a hip problem and struggling to a 36-hole total of 11-over par yesterday. Winner of the title 20 years ago and now 53, the Welshman resorted to using a shooting stick between shots to stop himself going into spasm.
"I'm absolutely knackered," he said after his second round 77. "My short game's just not good enough really, but I'm glad I played because I wasn't going to on the first day. My hips are all seized up again and I'm very sore. I struggled through it, but didn't hole a putt all week. I just had to take some sit-downs to take the spasm out of my back. Every now and again the spondylitis gets to me and I just have to get used to it. The seat is not a bad thing to have because it does not weigh anything, especially yesterday when it was five-and-a-half hours to get round. I think we were almost five hours today - it's too slow really.
"I could feel it last week in Mississippi, but I could play in a buggy there. I don't know if that's going to be my last or not yet. I'll have to see how I'm playing next year. If I'm in this sort of state I most probably won't play."
Ian Poulter, who dropped four shots in the last four holes on the first round to begin with a 74, set off with a hat-trick of birdies yesterday - the first of them courtesy of a 40-foot putt - but bogeyed the fifth, eighth and 10th to return to two over.
Poulter made a 10-foot birdie putt on the last and although a one under halfway total was far from his goal at the start of the week the closing three could prove to be vital when it comes to the cut.
"I was really disappointed with the finish yesterday [Thursday]," he said after his 69. "I'm not happy. I played pretty flawless, but I had three dropped shots through unforced errors."
