Fred Couples today claimed the clubhouse lead in the Masters at the age of 53 as Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson both plummeted down the leaderboard.

Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, two of Jose Maria Olazabal’s assistants as Europe amazingly retained the Ryder Cup from 10-4 down, are seen as the two leading candidates to take over from the Spaniard for the 2014 match at Gleneagles.

A three-under-par 67 earned Fred Couples a two-shot victory at the British Senior Open Championship at Turnberry.

Rory McIlroy fell all the way from third to 19th with a terrible start to his third round in The Masters at Augusta today.

Luke Donald counted himself out of The Masters after a disappointing third round 75 at Augusta today – and it could well cost him the world number one spot as well.

Lee Westwood tossed away the Masters lead with a closing double bogey at Augusta today – as Rory McIlroy came right back into the thick of things and Tiger Woods struggled badly.

Fred Couples today became the oldest player to lead at the halfway stage of The Masters.

Rory McIlroy was just two years old when Fred Couples pulled on his Green Jacket at Augusta National in 1992.

The hug said it all today as Tiger Woods yet again clinched another Presidents Cup victory for the United States.

Greg Norman needs his International side to win eight out of 12 singles at Royal Melbourne tomorrow if they are to avoid a fourth successive Presidents Cup defeat.

Tiger Woods still has to prove he was worth a wild card for this week’s Presidents Cup – but America still lead by two points.

The highly-anticipated match-up between Tiger Woods and Adam Scott will happen on the opening day of the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.

FOR Tiger Woods this week’s Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne is very different to his five previous appearances in the match – and his six Ryder Cup caps.

Captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman lavished praise on Royal Melbourne ahead of this week’s Presidents Cup, with the United States leader saying some of his players have already ranked it the best they have played.

A FRENETIC, wildly unpredictable final day at the Tour Championship ultimately ended with Bill Haas winning both the tournament and FedExCup honours, though it took a while for his double success to sink in.

Tiger Woods is back on the golf sidelines after just six rounds of his latest comeback – not because he is injured again, but because his game is not good enough.

FRED COUPLES moved into contention at the Masters last night and said becoming the oldest winner of a major would be the “the biggest upset in golf history.”

Australia's Aaron Baddeley established a one-shot lead after the third round of the Northern Trust Open in California today.

A second-round 66 gave Fred Couples a two-shot lead at the Northern Trust Open in California today.

The Irish have an uncanny knack of playing pivotal roles in European success at the biennial spectacular, says Simon Lewis

A month after finishing sixth in The Masters, 50-year-old Fred Couples is in Texas tomorrow trying to qualify for The Open at St Andrews, the course on which he came joint third behind Tiger Woods and Colin Montgomerie in 2005.

Two months after providing the finalists at the World Match Play in Tucson, two Englishmen were setting the pace in The Masters at Augusta today.

Ian Poulter had the thrill of leading The Masters at Augusta today, but if that was the ecstasy, the agony certainly belonged to Sandy Lyle.

Sandy Lyle’s dream start to The Masters turned into a nightmare at Augusta today.

Some remarkable players produced some remarkable scores on the opening day of The Masters – and Tiger Woods was amongst them with a four under par 68, his best start at Augusta by two shots.

SOME described the atmosphere as subdued but Tiger Woods’ first run around Augusta National in front of thousands of fans can only be qualified as an outstanding success for the disgraced world number one.

IF Paul Casey and Fred Couples were selling confidence, they’d likely find Rory McIlroy at the top of the queue just a week before he makes his second appearance in the Masters at Augusta National.

Phil Mickelson will not let a sore back dampen his excitement at leading off the United States’ Presidents Cup defence alongside Ryder Cup playing partner Anthony Kim tonight in San Francisco.

Korean Yang Yong-eun’s amazing victory over Tiger Woods in the US PGA Championship – the first win by an Asian-born player in any of the men’s majors - has taken him from 110th in the world to 34th.

Calmer conditions did Lee Westwood no favours as first-round play resumed at the Shell Houston Open in Texas.

Phil Mickelson held his nerve to retain the Northern Trust Open title today after edging out Steve Stricker by one stroke.

FRED COUPLES has teed up his golf ball 23 times in the Masters and has played the weekend at Augusta National each and every year.

FRED COUPLES, a friend of John Daly’s, yesterday said he hopes Daly listens to the criticism coming his way stemming from recent incidents, including disqualification from last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational after missing his pro-am tee time.

Former Masters champion Fred Couples has withdrawn from next week’s Singapore Open, organisers confirmed on Thursday.

Tom Lehman will not be qualifying for his own Ryder Cup team – and it looks certain that Fred Couples will not be playing at the K Club either.

American Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman has been told that the players want him on the team if he qualifies this weekend.

Fred Couples felt well enough to play Hoylake today, two days after telling close friend Davis Love he feared he might have to fly back to America.

A day after saying his back was “doing well” American star Fred Couples pulled out of the Barclays Scottish Open before the start at Loch Lomond today.

Fred Couples is the same age as the oldest British Open champion in history. But he has not given up yet on winning it – or using it as a springboard back into the Ryder Cup.

American Fred Couples, who is bidding to play in a sixth Ryder Cup, will play in next month’s Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

Irish players failed to make significant progress in their quest for places on Europe's Ryder Cup team to take on USA in the K Club in September.

With Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley taking the weekend off, there was little change among the Irish players’ Ryder Cup standings over the weekend.

PHIL MICKELSON’S face broke into a broad smile when he saw the draw for Sunday’s final round of the Masters.

Masters champion Phil Mickelson is doing what all good golfers do – taking it one shot at a time, one round at a time and one major at a time.