AUGUSTA. Ga. — Jordan Spieth swings. And Michael Greller screams.
“Furrrre leeeeft!”
And you spit. The two words of the caddy – or their siblings, damn riiiight – now have a pavlovian effect. When Spieth tees off, you raise the bar – because here comes a Spiethian treatment, more often than not, so to the right of Augusta National The 18th hole must go, where, under a dozen thick tree branches, Spieth’s tee shot ended up.
Spieth called for a regulation officer. Of course he did. “I was just curious how I could get back,” he said. “Like it’s supposed to be the path of least resistance.” He passed the ball with the pretzel. Of course he did. He worked a punch back into the fairway. He hit an iron 10 feet to the right of the hole.
He somehow tried. Or of course, he did. Spieth Spied. After the first day of Mastershe was even, and five behind the lead. “I did well to hit it in the fairway, and I honestly don’t know how many people in the world make a four off that ball,” Spieth said. “So that was it – I’m leaving with a smile on my face. I’m happier than you to go shooting for one-under … and it’s funny how the game works, isn’t it?”
Right?
A decade agothat was the thought too, if you were thinking kindly. In 2015, at age 21, Spieth was your Masters winner. In 2016, after 63 of 72 holes, he was your Masters leader by five. And he finished three behind winner Danny Willett. And he hasn’t won here since.
Late Thursday afternoon, he reflected on some of them. There have been other close years. But 2016 is “up there with memorable tournaments for me, good and bad,” Spieth said. The big bullet. The great lost bullet. The possibility to repeat. The current quest for a second Masters victory. But he said he felt he came away with more than a seemingly awkward moment of putting Willett in the green jacket.
“I was super resilient,” he told reporters.
“Of course it’s gone both ways for me here, so hang in there and try to make it go my way.”
If anything, that’s what made him charming over the last 10 years. There was such a part on Thursday. He was two-under through Amen Corner, then birdied the 14th hole, after his tee ball ended up in a tree, and the 15th, in a three-putt from 30 yards. But then came that level at 18.
“What I’ve learned in the last 10 years,” Spieth said, “is a lot — anything can happen.”
This year, the results have been mixed. Eight starts. Just a missed cut. Five top 30 finishes. But zero wins. He has often talked about how things have felt good, but the results haven’t reflected that, and Thursday was more of the same. The bogey on 15 was an example.
Into the right bunker of the par-5 after two shots. Made a bogey six.
“I just don’t get four to get from a green bunker to 15 very often,” Spieth said. “You know, I just had a lie that I thought was going to go out really fast and I didn’t. And then I was — I wasn’t tentative on the greens. I just thought they were faster and I left a number of short shots. You can’t put the five-footer downhill for the first few shots if you can get it under the hole.
“So I made some mistakes in that regard. I got away with one or two and didn’t on the 15th. That’s the kind of thing that’s happening. I’m in position to birdie and get away with a six on a random hole. Give me a dozen balls out there, I probably birdie the 10th and birdie the 10th and you know what the next one knows, you know?
“I feel good about it. It’s like close to clicking and it just didn’t quite click today.”
But maybe on Friday. He will come back again.
Funny how the game works, right?
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