Jordan Spieth And Rory McIlroy Have Decidedly Opposite Rounds
It was supposed to be a Rory McIlroy coronation into golf’s most exclusive club. Only 3-back of leader Patrick Reed, you’d have thought all the pressure was Reed (as Rory intimated Saturday night). Sleeping on a major lead is the toughest thing in golf–especially for your first potential major win.
Yet, Rory blinked like a golfer with the world’s expectations heaped upon his shoulders causing a fretful night of insomnia. His first drive was epically wide right–a near miss on the end of the club face. He did make par, but game never got on track. It was hardly the stuff of legend.
In truth, this wasn’t just a disappointing performance—six strokes behind winner Patrick Reed—from the man many believe to be the most naturally talented golfer on the planet, never mind what the rankings might say. It was worse that that. Much worse.
On a card littered with errors of varying magnitude, all of the faults that have contributed to McIlroy’s descent from golf’s summit were in evidence. The peerless driving was suddenly erratic. The approach shots equally so, distance control sorely lacking. The short game was blunt. And the putting? Well, that was bloody awful. Standing on the 15th tee, McIlroy had already missed seven putts inside 10 feet and four inside six feet. It was ugly stuff.
“There is always pressure,” was a McIlroy opening admission. “But I had a decent warm-up. And I felt like I settled down OK. It wasn’t as if nerves got to me. But I just didn’t have it right from the first tee-shot. Even then, given where I was in one on the first hole, I would have taken one under after two holes.
“Still, momentum is huge in the last round of a major,” McIlroy continued. “Look at what Jordan [Spieth] and Rickie [Fowler] did. They got on a roll and I just didn’t. Patrick didn’t either. We were in and around even par and just grinding out there—not quite what we both had in mind. He just hung in there a little better than I did and got the job done.
“Any time I got momentum I gave it away on the next hole. I was trying to hit good shots and hit good putts. But every time I hit a good one I ended up on the wrong side of the hole,” he said. “And when I did get opportunities I didn’t take them. Every time I took a step forward I took one backwards on the next hole. The bogeys on the third and the fifth both followed birdies and are the two holes I will look back on with most regret.”
If McIlroy indeed does finally earn the Career Grand Slam, it will take him the most attempts. The most prior was 3 before successfully Slamming. This Masters was Rory’s fourth.
Speaking of Jordan Spieth, he began the day nine strokes back. Figuring he was out of it, Spieth said, “I’m just going to have fun playing with my buddy (Justin Thomas) and enjoy the walk.”
It nearly led to most epic major rally in history.
Maybe that’s a good strategy moving forward, as GolfWorld’s Dave Shedlowski reports.
“What we did on 12 today was really cool,” began the 24-year-old Dallas native, who smiled when he saw his 9-iron reach dry land. “I mean that hole, even when I didn’t hit it in the water in previous years, I three‑putted in 2015 for bogey. So, to play a disciplined shot, probably the most pressure‑packed shot I’ve ever hit. Again, I had no idea where I stood, but still the Sunday pin at Augusta, and I know what I’ve done, and my history there. To stand in that kind of pressure and hit the shot to the safe zone, [and] to knock that putt in was massive for me going forward.”
“And in general,” he added, pulling out of his myopia, “this round was fantastic. 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. And that’s how I’m going to take today.”
He finally caught his fellow Texan at 14 under par when he jarred his ninth birdie of the round from 35 feet below the cup at the par-3 16th hole. When the ball disappeared, he turned to caddie Michael Greller and with a stunned look on his face said, “Can you believe that?”
“Well, you come to learn that you have to expect just about anything out of him,” said Fowler, whose birdie on the 72nd hole allowed him to supplant Spieth for second place. “You never know, and don’t be surprised if he pulls something off. That’s just Jordan. He’s fun to play with. He’s fun to watch.”
Spieth’s only blemish came at the last when he bogeyed after pulling his tee shot near the tree line. His ball clipped a branch and fell straight down. He still gave himself a look at an eight-footer for par, but he burned the edge. It was only then that he looked at a scoreboard for the first time all day, staying true to his plan at the outset, which was, he said, “Don’t worry about the golf tournament itself, worry about playing Augusta National.
“I knew that putt was important,” he said of the par try on the 72nd hole. “Every putt was important coming down the stretch. I was pretty gutted when I finished and finally looked at the board. I want to hit that tee shot again right now.
Its still amazing that Spieth never looked at the leaderboard once until after the round (the exact opposite strategy of winner Reed who constantly checks for changing developments). Don’t you always want to know where you stand?
It reminds me of Tiger Woods scolding William McGirt after he admitted not looking at the leaderboard on the back nine.
“I was telling the story on the putting green at the PGA at Kiawah [later] that year, and I told Joe LaCava (Tiger’s caddie) that I had never looked at a leaderboard on the back nine and that it was my only regret,” McGirt said. “Tiger was hitting putts and he looked straight up, and he said, ‘What?’
“He walks over and we’re basically nose to nose, and he says, ‘OK, spill the beans.’
“I told him it was basically my first time in that situation on Tour and that I didn’t really want to screw it up by looking at leaderboards. So, we had a nice little conversation, and he goes, ‘You’re an idiot.’”
Anyway, far be it from me to advise Jordan on anything related to playing golf.
“I’ve proven to myself and others that you never give up,” he said. “Came out with idea of playing the golf course and having some fun. See what happens if something crazy happens. All in all, it was an extremely successful day. I would have taken it at the start of the day.
