AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fred Couples had played mediocre golf by his standards the past four years, and while the 1992 Masters champion had come close to making the cut at the Masters on one occasion, he hadn’t played the weekend since 2018.

Well, Couples got to play Saturday because of a weather delay on Friday. And then he kept playing after making the cut at Augusta National for the 31st time.

The 63-year-old fan favorite had to finish his second round Saturday morning and ended up 1 over for the championship. That was good enough for Couples to break the record for oldest player to make the cut at the Masters set by Bernhard Langer during the 2020 tournament.

“That was my objective, and I did it,” Couples said, before adding: “It’s not like, ‘Ha, ha, ha. Now I can screw around and play 36 holes for fun.’ I’m going to try and compete. Play a good pairing with some younger guys and watch them play.”

Couples trails only the 37 cuts that Jack Nicklaus made during his career. At one point, he made 23 straight to tie the record set by Gary Player, and equaled Saturday by Tiger Woods.

“I feel like here I can compete with myself to make the cut,” said Couples, who had fallen to 4 over with nine holes to play in his third round when play was suspended for the day. “I can’t compete with Viktor Hovland or Jon Rahm or anybody, but I can compete with myself, and that’s really why I come. That’s what I like to do is make the cut here.”

PURSE GETS BUMP

The Masters announced that its total purse this year will be $18 million, an increase from $15 million a year ago, and the winner will get $3,240,000. That’s more than the entire Masters purse of $3.2 million 25 years ago.

None of the majors has matched the PGA Tour’s $20 million purse for elevated events, and The Players Championship has a $25 million purse. The next major is the PGA Championship, and PGA of America officials have been waiting to see what the Masters would do with its purse. The PGA Championship also was at $15 million last year.

The U.S. Open purse last year was $17.5 million. The British Open purse was $14 million.

Meanwhile, the individual purses for Saudi-backed LIV Golf events are $20 million.

LIV STRONG

Twelve of the 18 players from the LIV Golf circuit made the cut, led by four-time major winner Brooks Koepka, who was leading at 13 under when the third round was suspended.

Three-time champion Phil Mickelson and Joaquin Niemann were at 4 under and tied for eighth, while Patrick Reed was at 2 under and Cameron Smith at 1 under. That means five were among the top 23 and ties when play was halted.

The others making the cut were 2020 champion Dustin Johnson, 2011 champion Charl Schwartzel, Talor Gooch, Abraham Ancer, Mito Pereira, Harold Varner III and Thomas Pieters.

“For sure,” Smith said, “I’d love to see one of us guys get up to the top of the leaderboard and really give it a nice shot.”

MIZE AND LYLE BOW OUT

Two former champions bid farewell to the Masters as competitors Saturday when Sandy Lyle and Larry Mize completed their second rounds in the cold, driving rain. Lyle was on the 18th hole and Mize another hole back when play was suspended Friday, and both decided they would rather come out to hit a few more shots than withdraw. After completing his round, Lyle waited for Mize to finish.

“Yeah, that was very special for Sandy to come out and greet me there,” the 64-year-old Mize said. “Sandy’s a good friend, a great champion, and to finish off with him is pretty cool. Yeah, I liked that.”

Lyle, 65, won his green jacket in 1988, the year after Mize chipped in for birdie in a playoff with Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman to become the first Augusta native to win the Masters.

Knowing they would have just a few shots left as competitors, how did Lyles choose to spend Friday night?

“A lot of tequila,” the Scotsman said, “and a bit of whiskey tasting at about 1 o’clock this morning.”