‘My dog didn’t die’
JORDAN Spieth appeared to be more machine than man as he cut a swathe through the sport last year. No one, it seemed, could stop him in the Majors. But he has a new adversary after the 66th hole of this year’s Masters and one who could yet prove to be the biggest danger to his continued domination of the sport’s biggest events – himself. The quadruple-bogey seven that opened the door for Danny Willett to claim a Green Jacket will not be easily forgotten. Spieth makes his first appearance since Augusta at the Players Championship this week and, if he happens to hold the lead heading down the home stretch, it will be an interesting test of the lasting impact of that apocalypse on Amen Corner.
Sawgrass, with its own watery grave at the short 17th, is a venue that could have been designed especially to test Spieth’s recovery powers.
In the immediate aftermath of the Masters, Sir Nick Faldo decreed that the experience would “scar” him and another former great Johnny Miller agrees.
“That is going to haunt him for a long time,” said Miller. “He’s going to be thinking, with the lead on the back nine, ‘I hope I don’t fall apart like I did at Augusta’. He can overcome that but he’s going to have to go through that thought.”
In one sense, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is an occupational hazard of being a top golfer. Jack Nicklaus won 18 Majors but he also finished second 19 times.
Disappointment comes with the territory but it was the acute nature of Spieth’s pain that raises the question marks. He led by five shots heading into the back nine of the Masters.
“We all have knocks. It’s how you get up from those knocks,” said Willett’s coach Pete Cowen. “Some people have asked if Spieth will recover from that. The doubts will come in and the problem is that there are 20 players who can win a Major at any time and 10 of those are supremely gifted.
“If I was his coach I would tell him that this one wasn’t meant to be but there will be plenty more that are.”
Spieth dealt with it in the immediate aftermath by jetting off to the Bahamas with Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Smylie Kaufman. The social media images were not of the usual sensible, corporate Spieth but of a 22-year-old letting his hair down. The blowout was a good idea.
Since his return he has been unable to escape the references to Augusta. He is no longer a two-time Major winner but a one-time Major loser.
“I’ve got ladies at the grocery stores putting their hand on me and going, ‘Really praying for you. How are you doing?’” said Spieth. “I’m like, ‘My dog didn’t die. I’ll be OK. I’ll survive. It happens’.
“I received notes immediately following that night pretty much saying, ‘This happens everywhere. No doubt, you’ll be back. Don’t draw on it. It happens to everyone in all sports on different levels’.”
He added: “If you’re in contention at a Major, say 50 times in your career, something like that is going to happen. Just don’t let it happen again.”
Sound advice but, knowing now he is capable of such an implosion, easier said than done.