WATCH: Tiger Woods' priceless reaction to how many woods Fred Couples has in his bag

Tiger Woods and Fred Couples have had a well-known friendship since the former's early days in professional golf. It is common to see them sharing practice rounds at events where they are both competing, something that is now virtually limited to the Masters Tournament.

Woods and Couples met at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club on Friday, December 20, prior to the PNC Championship Pro-Am event. While the two were on the practice range, a hilarious situation ensued that was captured on video and posted by the PGA Tour on its X (formerly Twitter) account.

In the video, Tiger Woods can be seen snooping through Fred Couples' golf bag when he realizes that the 1992 Masters champion has no less than six woods in his bag. While you can't hear everything they're talking about, you can see Woods chuckling at this particular choice of clubs.

However, this is nothing new for Couples. The player himself explained the reason for carrying so many woods in his bag as follows (via Golf365):

"Everyone keeps talking about them. My longest iron is a seven. Who cares? I’m not strong enough anymore. I hate to say that."

In today's golf, it is rare for a professional to have more than two woods in his bag (usually a 3-wood and a 5-wood). In official tournaments, the rule is that a player can only carry up to 14 clubs.

---

A look at the friendship between Fred Couples and Tiger Woods

The 2024 edition of the PNC Championship marks Fred Couples' debut at the event, while it is Tiger Woods' fifth appearance. Their meeting on the practice range this Friday was widely celebrated by both, who shared a hug that went around the world via social media.

Woods himself explained the origin of his friendship with Couples in an interview with Golf.com in 2022. According to the 15-time major champion, it all began in his early days as a professional on the PGA Tour.

At the time (1996), Woods was only 20-years-old and had few contemporaries on the tour. However, he found a partner in Couples to share practice rounds and dinners on the road.

"I’ve been lucky enough to have him as basically my dad on Tour. Freddie [Couples] all the sudden became my buddy on Tour when I first came out, took me under his wing... It was fun to pick his brain about how the Tour works," Tiger Woods said.

By 1996, Fred Couples had spent 16 seasons in professional golf. He had won 12 PGA Tour events, including the Masters Tournament and two Players Championships. He had also played in four Ryder Cups, winning two and tying one.