The Masters 2010: Fred Couples rolls back the years as Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood lead the chase Nothing whatsoever is the answer. Even in "92, his victory was among the most popular in the history of this tournament. Should he continue in the form he has shown so far, we should steel ourselves for a 'Tom Watson at Turnberry" moment come tomorrow night. Couples, we should remember, is already well-acquainted with this leaderboard in his fifties. In 2010, he began with a 66 and became the oldest player to hold the outright lead after the first round at Augusta. Last year, similarly, he shot a Friday 68 to gatecrash the top 10. This time, though, he has perhaps his finest opportunity yet to become the oldest major winner. He is six years older than Jack Nicklaus was when he won a sixth Masters on that seismic Sunday in 1986. One telling sign of his seniority is that 20 of the players in this field were not even born when Couples competed in his first Masters in 1983. The marvel is how uniformly popular Couples is. Augusta's crowds salute him simply as 'Freddie": the figure whom all the men of similar vintage wish they were like and whom all their wives secretly want to take home. Yesterday he continued to be among the most powerful draws, endearing himself to his public through his jaunty gait and sly grin. Everywhere he went, he exuded an effortless charm. Some of his admirers were concerned for him as he performed a series of gyrations to soothe his back. "Look at him holding his back," one said to his friend by the seventh green in the unseasonably low temperatures. This cold is probably killing him. Little did they realise that this was precisely the point at which Couples would start to put together his third consecutive Masters challenge since entering his sixth decade. One can form a fair sense of the type of character Couples is from a story involving Woods. At a fundraiser for Woods's children's learning centre in California in 2010, he went on stage and drove up the asking price for four Masters tickets from £20,000 to £100,000, saying that he "wanted to dice it up a little." That same carefree attitude was self-evident yesterday as Couples carried on his merry way through the field, twirling the club at his side as if playing a skins game with friends. Even McIlroy was moved to describe Couples as "a cool guy," saying after his own fine play yesterday to end up a shot behind: "I hope I'm that cool when I'm 52." Whenever Couples reaches Augusta, he does seem to resemble a man 20 years younger. This is really my favourite place in the world to play. I feel like I'm young when I'm here. The swing looked it, too, as he poured in a birdie putt at the seventh and followed up with another at the par-five ninth. The hubbub only increased when he sank a third straight birdie effort at the ninth from well below the hole. The key to the round, though, may well have been a par save at the 11th, when he bailed out to the right but was able to complete his up-and-down. Two further birdies at the 15th and 16th gave him seven for the day, and the escape from the bunker at the 18th enabled him to walk in with the lead. He fared substantially better than Woods, who was struggling badly last night in the quest for a fifth green jacket. The 14-time major champion made four bogeys in eight holes from the sixth and was forced to take a drop at the 13th when his approach finished in an unplayable lie adjacent to Rae's Creek. Couples shared his platform at the top with Jason Dufner, the self-effacing soul from Michigan best known for his runner's-up finish to Keegan Bradley at last year's US PGA in Atlanta. Dufner was stoic yesterday when asked how it felt to be leading. I don't really think about it to be honest with you. I'm just playing a round of golf. I know the situation and I'm playing a major, I'm playing at Augusta in the Masters. As a player, I know everything that's going on. At times I know that I am leading or behind or whatever it might be in that situation. I'm just trying to have a good round of golf, play well, commit to my shots and let the rest take care of itself.