Jordan Spieth is going to be just fine after his Masters collapse
On Sunday at Augusta National, Jordan Spieth lost the Masters.
He lost the Masters because he hit not one, but two bad golf shots on the par-3 12th, a golf hole that thrives on dooming chances at a green jacket. He lost a chance at back-to-back green jackets because in the era of "more distance means tougher," the 12th at Augusta National continues to haunt professional golfers despite being a simple 8- or 9-iron.
And that happens. The best golfers to play this game melt down at times. They fall apart. They have mental lapses that cost them championships. It happened to Arnold Palmer in 1966. It happened to Greg Norman in 1996. It happened to Tiger Woods in 2009 and it happened to Rory McIlroy in 2011.
The funny thing about all of this is for the next few days you'll be reading about the collapse. People will call it a choke. Analysts will be questioning Spieth and what went wrong. Fans will bring up his two water balls on the par-3 after making back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th. But this isn't the first time it's happened to Spieth. It isn't the first time it happened to Spieth at this event, on this very same hole.
A quadruple bogey on the 12th hole effectively ended Spieth's chance at a second straight Masters title.
The 22-year-old who has proudly become the face of this new generation had a chance at a green jacket in his Masters debut in 2014, but the 12th got him. Trailing Bubba Watson by one headed to the 12th tee, Spieth made bogey to fall two back. Watson birdied the 13th to go three up, and that's where they stayed the rest of the way.
The storyline then was completely different. That was one of those major championship moments we have come to expect from "regular" pros. They're supposed to fall apart when bigger names are making a charge. In '14, Bubba Watson had already won a green jacket and was trying to win a second and Spieth was just some kid trying to make history.
But the reason this one will feel different to some is because it was Spieth's march towards history, and his golf game let him down. In much more fantastic fashion.
So what now? Where do we go from here? When it happened to McIlroy in '11 at Augusta, all he did was go out and win the next major championship by eight shots, a performance that nobody saw coming after his disastrous Sunday at Augusta doomed by a nasty back nine. When Jason Day's birdie putt came up woefully short at St. Andrews to land in a playoff for his first major championship, all he did was go out and win the PGA Championship playing next to Spieth.
A bogey on the 17th hole ended any remaining hopes for Spieth.
That's the thing about freaking out when somebody has a bad stretch of holes or comes up short when it looks like the storyline was already written.
Spieth will be fine. This one will hurt, sure, but it's not like his career is over.
It's been a busy year already for the 22-year-old who is trying to fill every obligation possible while the iron is hot. He might have exhausted himself earlier in the season, but he was prepared and ready to win again at the Masters and that devilish little par-3 doom his chances at a repeat.
But seriously, do you think this is it? Do you think he's less alien and more human after a crushing defeat like this one?
Rory McIlroy bounced back just fine after his Masters collapse, winning the U.S. Open the very same year.
The answer to both are no. We can't forget the four-birdie stretch on the front nine to pull away and the must-make birdies on both par-5s after the quadruple-bogey occurred.
The kid has fight. He has heart. And, frankly, some of that might be the reason for his ups and downs.
But for Spieth, attention is now turned to Oakmont, a golf course where he opened as the 7-to-1 favorite as we sit 65 days until the U.S. Open. And of all the players in the game, the one with that putting stroke and the ability to bounce back when all seemed lost should be the favorite at the toughest test in golf.
Maybe he wins like Rory at Congressional, or maybe he struggles with the speed of those tricky greens and it's another major without a trophy. If that's the case, it'll be on to Royal Troon, a place where Tom Weiskopf won in 1973 after a tough third-place finish at the U.S. Open a month before. And from there, it's on to Baltusrol, and another golf course that sets up well for Spieth, as they all do when you have his game and his ability to block out all the noise and just play golf.
Tom Weiskopf was tied for the lead on the back nine of the 1973 U.S. Open before falling apart. A month later, he won the claret jug.
Spieth fell apart for a few minutes on Sunday. He would be the first to admit that. But to me, it's less about what he did in that moment and more about what he did after.
He knew he still had a chance to win. He knows he still has a chance to win in a couple of months, and the best part is it, he wants it.
To be great you have to want to be great. Some people are content with being very, very good.
Jordan Spieth had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad hole. Now it's time to show the world that life doesn't end with two bad golf swings.
I'm excited to see what happens next. For the first time in his career, Jordan Spieth has a chip on his shoulder, and I bet he can't wait to knock that thing off.
