‘I'd tell him I love him': Fred Couples reflects on Tiger Woods' struggles

Fred Couples and Tiger Woods during a practice round at the 2024 Masters. getty images AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fred Couples knows something about pain.

For nearly half of his 66 years he has battled debilitating back issues that at the Masters two years ago had him in such acute discomfort when hitting short irons that he warmed up with only his driver and 3-wood. In the first round, Couples was so miserable that he wanted to quit but resisted only because he didn’t want to throw his playing partners out of sync. Tiger Woods, you’ve probably heard, also knows something about pain.

No one can say with certainty exactly how many surgeries Woods has had in his professional career (somewhere between “a lot” and “a whole lot”), but we do know the most recent of his seven known back procedures came in October to treat a collapsed disc and compromised spinal canal. When Woods was arrested for suspicion of DUI on March 27, he told police that he had taken prescription pain medication earlier in the day; police also found opioid pills in Woods’s pocket. On March 31, Woods said in a statement that he was stepping away from the game “to seek treatment and focus on my health” as he works “toward lasting recovery.

” A day later, a Florida judge approved Woods’s request to travel overseas for “comprehensive inpatient treatment. ” Chronic pain isn’t the only thing Couples and Woods have in common. They share a bond that dates to the 1997 Ryder Cup when Couples first took Woods under his wing.