Stunning first-round action at the Masters has brought into clear perspective the possibility of a first victory in a major for a player over 50 years of age.
To date the oldest player to lift one of golf's Big Four titles was Julius Boros, who won the 1968 PGA Championship title at the age of 48.
Better-known, though, was the famous Jack Nicklaus triumph in 1986 when at 46 years of age he became the oldest man to win the Masters.
He remains so to this day, although he could soon lose that record with four of the over-50s brigade up on the leaderboard after Thursday's opening action at Augusta National.
Leading the way was 50-year-old Freddie Couples, who has found a new lease of life this year after switching to to the senior Champions Tour, where he has won three out of the four tournaments he has contested.
Wearing tennis shoes and no socks to protect his chronically delicate back, Couples carded a six-under 66 for his best-ever round at Augusta in his 26th Masters dating to 1983.
That gave him a one stroke lead over a group of five players including 60-year-old Tom Watson, who equalled his best-ever score over the punishing Georgia parkland layout 40 years after he made his debut.
Also up there were former winners Bernhard Langer (71) and Sandy Lyle (69), though the Scotsman dramatically fell off the cliff early in Friday's second round when he dropped 10 shots in the first eight holes as the pin placings were made much more difficult.
It remained to be seen how durable will be the challenges of Couples and Watson, but the latter has already proved he can win again by coming within one putt of winning the British Open at Turnberry last year when he was 59.
Asked if the age of 50-plus players winning a major title had arrived, Watson was adament.
"Wow. It's a longshot for somebody of our age to do it," he said. "But still, they can do it.
"I've said The Open Championship are on courses that are bouncy and they are firm and they don't play as long as Augusta National plays.
"So in my perspective, I felt better with a links course in my hands than Augusta National.
"Ask Freddie (Couples). Freddie's right there. He can carry the ball 300 yards still in the air. That's a long way, for a 50 year old."
Crowd favourite Couples puts his revival down to his expert knowledge of the golf course honed over 96 competitive rounds here and the psychological boost he got from his switch to the Champions Tour where "I'm the youngest guy out there."
Winning a second Masters green jacket on Sunday, 18 years after his first, remains a long shot, he says, but it's not impossible.
"The the pipedream is to win Augusta at age 50," he said.
"Can I still win? Of course. It would be a nice dream, that's for sure, but I've got a lot of golf left to even think about being in contention."
One player who believes that Couples could just go all the way is Tiger Woods, who played an 18-hole practice round with him on Monday and liked what he saw.
"Winning breeds winning. Winning breeds a lot of confidence and whether you win on a mini tour, regular tour, Senior Tour, it doesn't matter," he said.
"Wins just give you a lot of confidence if you can get it done. And you can see Freddie is just exuding that."
Copyright 2010  AFP American Edition
