Jordan Spieth On The Verge of Greatness

For three days this has been Jordan Spieth’s Masters. His record setting performance has him on the verge of really becoming a special part of this game. Believe it or not he’s been here before, and this is all the twenty-one-year-old knows. In his first Masters appearance last year he slept on the 54-hole lead. He’s followed that up with an even better performance and sits in an even better position to win his first major. Two Masters, two final groups on Sunday, that’s incredible for anyone let alone some one who is only six years older than the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship participants.

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After lapping the field the first two rounds, Spieth came back to earth on Saturday. He wasn’t perfect and at times he showed that he is in fact human. From holes 12-16 he racked up four birdies and a bogey to run his total to -18. This tournament that many considered to be over anyway was seriously on the verge of becoming a complete runaway. Then Kryptonite struck.

For the most part Spieth had been great through 52 holes and then on the 53^rd disaster struck. A bad drive, terrible pitch, and a short missed putt and gave two shots back to the field. It was his first double bogey of the tournament, and the first time he really showed any chink in the armor. With one hole remaining Spieth needed to respond. He ripped a perfect drive between the pines on the 18^th fairway, and all was seem to be forgotten. Then from the fairway he hit his approach shot in the one place he couldn’t hit it. His lead had already been cut to four and now he was in serious danger of opening the door even more. How does he respond? With one of the best up-and-downs you’ll ever see. Why? Because that’s just what he does.

"“It was really big,” Spieth said. “It was huge. It was one of the bigger putts I’ve ever hit … I was very frustrated.” (PGA Tour.com)"

The kid has been so good when he has to be, and that’s how you win any golf tournament let alone The Masters. He doesn’t drive it the farthest, and isn’t one of the best all-around ball strikers on tour. The one thing he does do is make putts, and he makes all the ones he has to. He is golf’s Derek Jeter, who statistically may not have been the best player, but when the Yankees needed a big hit, most of the time he delivered. There’s no stat line for being clutch, but then again five World Series rings are much better than five batting titles.

Spieth has definitely been cut from the “clutch cloth” as Jeter, and now it’s time for him to win like the former Yankee shortstop. We’ve seen him win PGA Tour events, the Australian Open, and Tiger’s Hero World Challenge, but this is The Masters. This is a chance for him to really make his stamp on the game. As a Yankee fan that never doubted Jeter, I’m starting to feel the same way about Spieth. He’ll get it done today, it may not be a flawless 64 like he shot earlier in the week, but he’ll make the clutch putts and do what he has to do to get out of there with the Green Jacket. That’s just who he is, and we better get used to it because he’s going to be doing this for a while.

Next: The Weekend at Augusta

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