Spieth’s pain game
Second year of glory is too much to ask of ‘boy prince’
PERHAPS we are to blame; those of us who packed adjectives into our hagiographies; who called him the boy prince of golf. Who hailed him as a man-child superstar.
For yesterday Jordan Spieth was not even on nodding terms with the leaders, being five-over after a thirdround 72. He had, by his own analysis, been brought low by our insatiable demands of him.
Yes, the 22-year-old Texan appears to be learning what it is like to live centre-stage. His deeds last year were so prodigious that there could be no other way: victory in the Masters, glory in the US Open and then within inches of a play-off at St Andrews.
By the time the four Majors were over and he was world No 1, Spieth’s aggregate score was 54-under par. That statistically made his 2015 season the greatest ever. Tiger Woods? He managed 53-under in his annus mirabilis of 2000.
‘Most of the questions,’ said Spieth, ‘are comparing last year to this and, therefore, negative because it’s not the same standard. So it’s tough to convince myself that I am having a good year when what I am being asked suggests I am not.
‘I think it’s a bit unfair on me but don’t feel sorry for me. I’ll still be OK. What happened to me last year, winning back-to-back majors, has only happened about a dozen times in golf ever. So it seems a bit unfair at 22 to be expecting something like that all time.’
You can say he is a ludicrously wellremunerated for hitting a ball with a stick. You can say that he is not serving in the front line in Afghanistan. You could even say he is deluded, seeing as in his last 10 major rounds he has not once gone below par and his total is a dismaying 18 over.
But you would be heartless if you did not feel a twinge of sympathy for him being proved human in public.
After a blazing start yesterday morning — four birdies in seven holes — he slipped back with bogeys on the ninth, 11th and 15th, and a double bogey on the 10th.
Why the early boom and late bust? When he started he was so far out of contention that he could play without pressure. When he clambered up the leaderboard, suddenly the freedom had vanished.
Pressure has been an important factor since his self-immolation around Amen Corner on Masters Sunday. A five-shot lead at the 10th had crumbled into dust by the 12th and Danny Willett pounced. Nothing since then has been quite as simple for Spieth.
His confidence knocked, he finished tied 37th at the US Open, 13 strokes behind winner Dustin Johnson. Gary Player reckons there is something wrong with his swing that he could put right in half-an-hour. If he says so. But Spieth has struck the ball quite decently this weekend. It was his metronomically reliable putting that has gone awry.
His lament on Friday night was that he is not in major-winning form. One theory is tiredness, given that he travelled to South Korea, Australia, Hawaii, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and the Bahamas prior to the Masters.
‘Too many sponsor obligations,’ opined Jason Day, the current No 1, of Spieth’s schedule, which was aimed at cashing in on his rising stardom. Conceivably, the travel has had a detrimental impact but might not the demands we were talking about; the stress of carrying all those inflated hopes, really have worn him out?
Tension crowded in when his ball landed at the feet of spectators on the 15th and his caddie, Michael Greller, snarled at a photographer.
Spieth remains unchanged as a character despite fame. For example, when Peter Dawson, president of the International Golf Federation, criticised the withdrawal of leading players from the farce called Olympic golf, Spieth voluntarily sat down with him for 45 minutes to explain his decision not to travel to Rio. The courtesy was appreciated.
Fast-forward to his press conference and the world No 3 was giving a long, detailed and thoughtful answer to where he stands now. He finished on a positive note, his eyes already turning to the US PGA Championship later this month. ‘My game feels as if it is rounding into shape,’ he said. ‘Although I am far behind, I’m close to getting there.’