Spieth’s ‘fantastic’ charge leaves him just short
AUGUSTA: Starting the day nine strokes off the pace at Augusta National yesterday, Jordan Spieth made a Masters charge for the ages by firing a recordtying final round score of 8under 64 but fell just short of catching eventual winner Patrick Reed.
When Spieth, who began the round at 5under, sank a 10m putt at the par3 16th to reach 14underpar, he tied Reed for the lead, threatening to achieve the greatest finalround comeback at the Masters.
However, the 2015 champion ran out of steam. After a par at 17 he hit a wayward drive at the last hole and missed a putt of just under 3m for par to post his first bogey of the day.
He finished third 275, 13underpar, two behind Reed.
‘‘In general this round was fantastic,’’ said Spieth (24), who has a win, two seconds, a third and an 11thplace finish in five starts at Augusta National.
Spieth said he was so far back after two lacklustre days with his renowned putter he just put his head down and tried to have fun.
‘‘The first time I saw the leaderboard was after I tapped in on 18. Honest to God. Didn’t look once today,’’ he told reporters.
‘‘That was my plan going in. I’m nine back. Go out and just have fun.’’
The Texan breathed life into what began as a dithering duel between Reed and Rory McIlroy. Spieth stacked up five birdies in a flawless first nine to close the gap to four. Birdies at 12, 13, 15 and 16 electrified the galleries and tightened up the leaderboard.
The birdie at the short, parthree 12th thrilled Spieth, who squandered a fiveshot Masters lead going into the final nine in 2016 due in large part to a quadruplebogey seven after splashing twice in Rae’s Creek.
‘‘What we did on 12 today was really cool,’’ he said about sinking a 9m putt for birdie on the devilish hole that had confounded him in each of his previous Masters.
‘‘I mean nobody’s going to have a great Sunday every year at Augusta National. To be able to have a chance to win this tournament five years in a row is really, really cool.’’ — Reuters