April 04--Fred Couples' bad back will cause him to miss his first Masters since 1994.
The 1992 Masters champion has played just three times this season, once on the PGA Tour. Back issues have knocked him out of dozens of events over the past two decades, but he has found a way to play at Augusta National almost every year -- and contend in 2012 and 2013.
Couples, 56, shared the 36-hole lead in 2012 and was one shot out going into the weekend in 2013.
Minus Couples, the Masters field is 89 players, the fewest since 2002.
