Couples' cool has an ageless quality

Which is more impressive -- that 51-year-old Freddie Couples is competing with guys less than half his age to win the Masters Tournament or that he's still cooler than all of them?

"He's as cool as he ever was for sure," said Steve Stricker, who watched Couples and his bum back shoot almost as many shots under par as the combined efforts of the No. 4 and 8 players in the world ranking playing beside him.

Couples is as West Coast casual as ever, but his game once again heated up in the warm Georgia air. The 1992 Masters champion is 5-under and in the hunt with a bunch of pups at Augusta National Golf Club.

On the 25th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus' winning his sixth green jacket at age 46, Couples could become the first AARP-eligible champion.

"You know, it would be the biggest upset in golf history," Couples said.

It would surprise just about everybody except the two guys who played with him the first two rounds. Luke Donald and Stricker both marveled at the way Couples broke down the golf course like it was nothing for an old dude. Couples easily pounded it past both of them off the tee despite his notoriously bad back, which required shots of pain killer two weeks ago.

On several downhill lies, Couples would wince and moan when he had to stay in the swing a little longer.

"It would be scary if he was healthy," said Stricker, "because there's a couple shots out there where he hit and groaned. He's playing hurt. That's what's even more impressive. If he were healthy, how good could he be, really?"

Couples treats his disabilities like a minor inconvenience when he comes to Augusta, his favorite course this side of Riviera. His back issues date at least as far back as 1994, when he was forced to skip the Masters after blowing out his back on the driving range at Doral, Fla.

He said the pain has been a constant since October -- "pretty much a toothache" -- but he never considered skipping again.

"Here, I would be playing even as a cripple. I love this place," he said. "I shouldn't say that -- as a guy with a horrible back, I would get it around."

He does a little better than that. Couples can never be counted out at Augusta. He nearly went wire-to-wire in 1998, finishing runner-up by a shot to Mark O'Meara. At age 46, he dueled in the final pairing with Phil Mickelson in 2006 before his putter deserted him.

Last year, at the ripe old age of 50, he shot 66 to take the first-round lead and finished sixth after playing the weekend in 6-under par.

"I think the excitement is there for everybody, but for me it's just a place where I feel very good about playing," he said. "You know, it's a playground for Phil. ... This is a playground and he has a great imagination, so when he gets in these places, he gets very excited to have these difficult shots. Whereas for me, I get excited when those difficult shots are over and I've kept it somewhere out of a creek or somewhere else."

Guys like Donald and Stricker -- still chasing their first major wins -- marvel at Couples' course management.

"He's young at heart and plays like a young guy," said Donald, who sits a shot behind Couples at 4-under. "He's a joy to play with and it's nice to watch his golf. He doesn't get himself in too much trouble and does everything right. It's a far cry from me. I've been in some really horrible places these last two days and he seems to have shot a really easy 5-under."

Few have ever made it look easier. The biggest knock on Couples is that he never got enough out of his immense natural talent. How much of it was his back and how much of it was his casualness is debatable, but it has definitely kept him out of the Hall of Fame to date.

But that Freddie style still plays well to the galleries. Guys like Stricker and Donald get lost in Freddie's wake.

"We're way down at the bottom of the totem pole," said Stricker of the comparative cool factor. "We're just hoping to get a little bit of his aura as we're walking behind him."

Cool helps, but it doesn't close the deal. Couples has to not only contend this weekend with fearless kids like Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, he also must deal with established veterans like Tiger Woods, Geoff Ogilvy, K.J. Choi and Lee Westwood.

"I mean, could I win? Of course," he said. "Am I looking forward to playing tomorrow? Yeah, you'd better believe it. ... Realistically, I figure I have to get somewhere, nine more birdies without many bogeys. I mean, 14 under; so today was a great round to make it a thrillseeking Saturday for me. ... I think I can go out and shoot a very good score, and then I'd have to do something crazy on Sunday, also."

And what would that mean to him?

"Retiring, is what it would be," he said. "I would be gone."

A walk-off green jacket -- how cool would that be?

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 orscott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.