All things considered, it wasn’t a terrible day for Fred Couples. At times, he stood on the edge of a collapse, struggling at Augusta National Golf Club while the conditions worsened. But he persevered, and lumbered his way around the course while gutting out an even par 72 on the card to remain at 5-under for the tournament, still in the thick of things and just outside the top-10.
It was one of those days for Couples and the first hole got him started on the wrong foot. Like many, Couples bogeyed the par four first, falling back to 4-under for the tournament. He did get it back with a birdie on the par three fourth, but trouble was on the horizon. On the par five eighth, Couples had his blow-up hole, firing a seven for a double bogey, dropping him to 3-under at The Masters.
But instead of packing up and packing it in, Couples used the back nine to grind back to even par on the day. Birdies on the par five 15th and difficult par three 16th set him back to even par on Saturday as he shot a 34 on the back nine to card a 72 for the day.
Rory McIlroy still has the lead at 11-under, holding a three stroke advantage over Angel Cabrera. Tiger Woods is struggling and fell back to 6-under with a 1-over day through 17 holes. Check out the full leaderboard for a look at where the field stands near the end of the round.
For more on the tournament, check out our 2011 Masters StoryStream. For more on the tournament, check out SB Nation’s full 2011 Masters coverage, or head over to SB Nation Atlanta.