Fred Couples, a fan favorite and the 1992 Masters champion, was scheduled to play hia 32nd time this week at Augusta National Golf Club. But it was announced Monday that Couples, 56, will miss the event because of “acute back troubles the past two weeks.”
Couples first injured his back in 1994 at Doral while on the PGA Tour and has had trouble since. He has had to withdraw from several Champions Tour events because of the continuing pain and has had experimental back treatment in Germany in the past.
ABC News reported in 2011 that Couples “went to see a doctor in Dusseldorf, Germany, named Dr. Peter Wehling. Wehling discovered a treatment for osteoarthritis and lower back pain that he calls Regenokine.” A simplification of the process is that it takes anti-inflammatory proteins from a person’s blood and injects it into the body at the site of inflammation.”
In 2015, Couples played only a few Champions Tour events after his missed cut at the Masters because of his back. And this season has played twice on the Champions Tour and once on the PGA Tour at the Northern Trust Open in February.
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