Spieth left flummoxed by final-round flop
Jordan Spieth played the final round of the Masters precisely how he planned — which is why he couldn’t believe his run at another green jacket on Sunday turned into one of the worst rounds at Augusta National in his young career.
He was still shaking his head in disbelief when he walked off the course.
Spieth, the 2015 Masters champ, began the day at 4under, two strokes behind co-leaders Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia, and was optimistic about his chances of winning a second Augusta title.
Instead, Spieth opened with bogeys on two of his first three holes.
It took a later unto get to 75, a score he shot in Thursday’s opening round and the largest number he’s posted in 16 rounds on the Georgia course.
Spieth wound up eight shots back from the playoff pair, and was left scratching his head over his bogey-filled scorecard.
He said the results weren’t shocking, “just a little bizarre”.
Spieth was filled with positive vibes from his comeback over the previous two rounds.
After opening with that 75, which included an ugly quadruple-bogey 9 on the 15th hole, he made only three bogeys over the next 36 holes to shoot 69-68 and close in on the leaders.
With positive memories from his first major title here two years ago and pictureperfect conditions, S pie th was eager to embrace the challenge of moving up the leaderboard.
But on Sunday, he had just one birdie to go with five bogeys and a double-bogey 5 on the 12th hole when his tee shot went in the water to fall out of contention.
Spieth thought distance control was his undoing. He said when he hit crisp, higharcing shots they often landed a yard or two into the rough, making it difficult to navigate the subsequent approach.
“It’s a coin flip, is it going to jump or come out spinny,” Spieth said. “And I missed those coin flips, five for five. I lost five coin flips on my guesses. But they were all good swings and I was proud of them.”
Still, it was easy to sense Spieth’s disappointment as he detailed his miscues while Garcia and Rose were locked in battle that eventually was won by the Spaniard in a playoff.
Spieth stopped each time the huge gallery shouted while Garcia and Rose putted out.
“Oh, two misses,” Spieth said as he looked toward the scoreboard.
Spieth used a late rally to limit the damage, making birdies on the 15th, 16th and 18th holes to finish at 1 under overall — the fourth time in four Masters appearances he broke par.
He tied for 11th, ending a remarkable run of finishing second, first and second over the past three years.
“I’m really pleased with the way we finished this round to get back to red (under par), Spieth said.
“Because for a while there, it was, ‘What am I doing?’ And I wasn’t doing much wrong and that’s what was so tough.”
The 23-year-old Texan won’t spend too much time worrying about it, confident that his demeanor, poise and attitude will serve him well the rest of the season.
There are many big tournaments ahead and Spieth believes how he played will help him contend in them all.
“It was the most free that I’ve ever felt at Augusta National,” he said. “So be it that I end up shooting one of my worst rounds.”