Notebook | Fred Couples misses cut by 1

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fred Couples has to come up with something else to do on this Masters weekend.

The 1992 champion missed the cut at Augusta National for the first time Friday, ending his consecutive cuts streak at 23. His streak, interrupted only when he didn't play in 1987 and 1994, had tied a record set by Gary Player from 1959 to 82.

"It's been a long time," he said. "It's been fun."

Couples, who is from Seattle and had been the only Masters champion never to miss a cut, came to No. 18 needing a birdie to make the weekend, and he gave himself a great chance with a 10-footer above the hole. But he missed it by inches, and immediately looked skyward as the crowd groaned.

"When I hit it, I thought I'd made it," he said.

Instead, his even-par 72 put him at 4-over 148 and one stroke above the cut line. The top 44 and ties play the weekend, and he tied for 46th.

"I thought if I could birdie a few holes, it'd be close," Couples said. "I needed one more."

Couples wasn't the only big name to miss the cut. Sergio Garcia won't be shedding the "best player to never win a major" tag this week, finishing at 4-over with Couples, three-time major champion Ernie Els, Luke Donald and Augusta native Charles Howell III. Rory Sabbatini kept the Par 3 Contest curse going, finishing at 5-over 149.

Steve Stricker (150), and former champions Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal (151) and Ben Crenshaw (152) went home early, too.

Couples was greeted with cheers of "Go, Freddie!" and "Have a good one, Freddie!" after he teed off on No. 1 Friday. But he could never get anything going, not making a birdie until the par-5 13th.

"You're not going to shoot good scores if you're not making a few birdies out there," he said. "There's a lot of hard holes and you're going to make bogeys."

He won't be making anything this weekend. For the first time in two-plus decades, Couples won't be around.

"I'm kind of disappointed in that. But I'm really disappointed with the way I played," he said. "The streak is part of the deal. But now it's gone."

Playing it again

Gary Player won't settle for just one tee shot next year.

The 72-year-old didn't come close to making the cut. But he made his own cut with a 78.

"I said if I break 80, I'll come back next year," said the three-time champion, who bent down and kissed the green as he came off 18. This was Player's 51st Masters, topping the record for most played that he'd shared with Arnold Palmer.

Notes

• Defending champion Zach Johnson staggered to the finish, making a double-bogey at the 17th hole and settling for a 76.

• Justin Rose, who had a least a share of the 18-hole lead in his third consecutive Masters, fell from contention with a 78.

• None of the three amateurs made the cut, including Michael Thompson, who penalized himself one stroke on the 15th hole when his ball moved as he addressed a birdie putt.