Masters Winner Jordan Spieth
Ever since Jordan Spieth watched his quest for a Green Jacket slip away in last year’s Masters, he’s been on a mission---establish a lead, get into the final pairing, and finish off his competition. Watching Bubba Watson slip on that Green Jacket, (for the second time), was all the motivation the young 21 year old needed.
And this year, he did it in a fashion rarely seen in a major tournament, going wire to wire, setting numerous records, and oh yeah, keeping a U.S. Open champion and a three-time Masters’ champion from overtaking him on Sunday. Starting the day out with a four-stroke lead, the “contenders” made their runs at the young gun, but Jordy held them back with his steady methodical play, sinking some great birdie putts, scrambling for a few pars, and eventually watching both Rose and Mickelson fade away.
Yet the day was not by any means easy for Spieth. After Justin Rose nailed a fifteen-foot birdie putt on the first hole and Spieth followed suit with 10-footer for birdie himself, the race was on! After Rose birdied the second hole and Spieth could only par, the lead was already down to three, and Mickelson was still looming behind by 5-6 strokes and ready to make some noise. However, both Mickelson and Rose would finish the front nine at even par, 36 (with two birdies and two bogeys apiece), and Spieth did them one better, (with three birdies and two bogeys), to make the turn advancing his lead---five over Rose, and six over Mickelson.
When Spieth birdied #10, (sinking a twenty-footer), and pared the difficult 11th hole to reach a -18 under par score, (and a six-stroke lead at that point), the “race” seemed to be over. Spieth had gone through “amen-corner” even par, (par, bogie, birdie), leaving his composure and lead intact. Even Mickelson’s blast out of the sand trap on #15 for an eagle three didn’t seem to rattle the youngster. On this same hole, he calmly pulled out his fairway wood for his second shot, flew it over the pond and through the green, chipped within six feet and nailed the putt to get to a record -19 under par. Rose would birdie 13, 14, and 15 to make his final run at the kid, but it still left him four strokes behind with three holes to play.
What Jordan Spieth did on #16 was an exclamation point to what we may see for a very long time in this young man’s career----an “amped-up” and adrenaline-filled shot over the green, and, just a “fair” chip back onto the green, leaving him an 8-foot slider for par. As his putter has not failed him all week, Jordan snaked the putt dead center into the cup for par.
“I stepped over that putt (on 16) just trying to put good speed, feed it out there and visualize a line,” Spieth said. “That was certainly … I would call that the biggest putt I've ever hit in my life.”
Rose missed his 19-foot birdie putt, to leave him still four strokes down with two to play. Both Rose and Spieth would par the 17th, and bogey the 18th, but the party was on!
JORDAN SPIETH---MASTERS’ CHAMPION---WIRE TO WIRE.
Add to that a 1.8 million dollar check, and a custom fit Green Jacket, a lifetime exemption to playing Augusta, (and moving into the number two spot in the world rankings), it just doesn’t get much sweeter than this. Well done Jordy……well done.
(photo credit, (above), to the Bleacher Report)
No comments:
Post a Comment