Fred Couples and Min Woo Lee both experienced challenging days during their opening rounds of The Masters on Thursday.
Couples was paired alongside Min Woo Lee and the 21-year-old from Thailand, Fifa Laopakdee, on day one of The Masters.
Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns lead after the first round of The Masters after the Northern Irishman and the American posted rounds of five-under par 67.
Couples and Min Woo Lee are 11 and 10 shots adrift of McIlroy respectively, after they shot rounds of 78 and 77 on day one of The Masters.
Augusta National is an unforgiving golf course and even the slightest mistakes are often severely punished.
Fred Couples believes the conditions at Augusta will suit the likes of Rory McIlroy this week.
At his age, it’s very difficult for him to keep up with the plethora of talented young stars that have saturated the game in recent years.
Fred Couples on what Min Woo Lee was like as a playing partner at The Masters
The 1992 Masters champion spoke to reporters after his opening round at The Masters on Thursday.
Couples was asked if he has any positive takeaways from his first round at Augusta.
“Not really, no,“ Couples responded.
“But I was cruising along and making a few putts when I needed to. Then I actually had a perfect yardage and I had seen a couple other guys, not in my group, but skip it over that green. I just felt like, you know, it was a shot I can handle.
“I just kind of skinned it off the downhill lie and didn’t carry far enough. Then I did the same thing. Then on 16 I tried to regroup and just hit it down in the flat where the ball is going to roll anyway and I pulled it and hit in the bank and went in the water.
“Then it just came — all the gas was gone. It was kind of a sour game, but it was fun. I enjoyed playing with Min Woo. I’ve watched him a lot. And Fifa, I’ve never met but watched him and learned a little bit about him. He’s a really good player. Hits it a 100 miles; both of them do.
“Tomorrow just have to go do the same thing but maybe not finish 10-over par on two holes or whatever the hell I did.
“It really was a fun day. Like I said, I’ve watched Min Woo. He didn’t play well either. Maybe tomorrow he’ll shoot 68 or 69. I like the way he plays so it was fun to play with him.“
Min Woo Lee comments on Augusta National setup
The Australian admitted he got it wrong about how firm Augusta National was, after he suggested it was fairly soft earlier in the week.
“It’s way firmer than — yeah, I take back what I said on Tuesday,” he admitted.
“I didn’t think it was that firm. Now it’s like a Saturday firm I would say for a Thursday, which is not really normal.
“Yeah, it is nearly baked out over the last — you know, those last six holes have been — I mean, 15 was not unplayable, but it was very — even for a lob wedge in, you know, where one bouncing towards the back of the edge, it’s tough, it’s tough.
“This course does that, and yeah, hopefully we can get it going tomorrow morning.“