AUGUSTA, Ga. – Earlier this week following a practice round with Rory McIlroy, Fred Couples was asked about the new tee box at No. 13, which added 35 yards to the hole.

“It ain't about me, it's about the best players and how far they're hitting it,” he laughed. “Rory hit a bomb there, and I think he went at the green with a 5 [iron].”

On Saturday in the rain and the cold, Couples, 63, became the oldest player to make the cut in the Masters with rounds of 71-74. There was a healthy dollop of irony that McIlroy won’t be around for the remainder of the weekend after missing the cut.

Couples had just hit his drive at the 18^th hole Friday when play was halted because of inclement weather and he believed he needed to make no worse than a bogey when he returned early Saturday to guarantee a spot in the final two rounds.

“I had 230 [yards] to the hole. All night long I thought, just make a [bogey]. I wasn't even thinking about a [par], and I made a [bogey]. It's probably the best I could have done unless something crazy happened,” said Couples, whose second shot at No. 18 came up short of the green, from where he chipped up and two-putted. He finished two rounds at 1 over, with the cut line eventually falling at plus-3.

Couples won the 1992 Masters and shares the longest streak of consecutive cuts made, 23, alongside Tiger Woods and Gary Player. He hadn’t made the cut at the year’s first major since 2018.

“I am excited to make the cut. That's why I come here. The last four years have been really mediocre golf. But that's my objective and I did it,” said Couples, who edged out Bernhard Langer for the record by four months.