Spieth seeks redemption in 81st Masters with aid of fear factor

Immediately following his missed cut Friday following a 77 in the second round of the Shell Houston Open, Jordan Spieth offered a rare bit of bravado regarding the Masters Tournament.

“We know and the other players that are playing next week know that we strike fear in others next week,” Spieth said. “That’s our idea, that’s going to be my confidence level going in.”

It was a surprising statement from the usually humble 23-year-old, especially considering he was coming off the missed cut after failing to get through round-robin group play at the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship the previous week, so he was obviously off his game.

But Spieth’s brashness is based in reality.

Despite playing in just three Masters Tournaments, Spieth already has a tremendous history at Augusta National Golf Club with two runner-up finishes and a record-breaking win in 2015. So he’s undoubtedly among the favorites in the 81st Masters that tees off Thursday in spite of his recent form.

“I really thoroughly enjoy this place and this week,” Spieth said. “It gets better each year. I seem to have more fun each year when I play this golf course.”

In 2015, Spieth became the first player to reach 19‑under par in the tournament and tied the 72-hole scoring record of 18 under set by Tiger Woods in 1997.

Spieth has held at least a share of the lead after eight of his 12 career Masters rounds – including a record seven through the third round last year – and holds the record for the most birdies in a single tournament with 28.

Spieth backed off the bold comment a bit this week, saying he was repeating what caddie Michael Greller said to reinforce his confidence following the poor round and missed cut.

“I think I'm very confident in the way that we've played this tournament, and I don't know what effect it has on other people,” Spieth said. “… I don't know what other people think. I doubt I'm very scary. I think around this place, given our success, other players may feel it might be harder to beat us. … But it depends who that other individual is.”

Spieth already has nine PGA Tour victories, including the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open, two wins in 2016 and a win in February in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

But on no course has he been more consistent than Augusta National, including TPC Deere Run, where he has won twice.

“I like the elevation changes, the side-hill lies, the pull to Rae's Creek, the way it affects putts. It's imaginative golf,” Spieth said. “It's feel golf and I really enjoy that, when I can go away from technicality and towards feel. It's an advantage for me personally, compared to how I play other places. I really love the tournament. It's pure golf.

“Then obviously just the feel, the crowds, leading into the tournament is second to none. I really like that and am able to feed off that.”

Spieth appeared on his way to becoming the first back-to-back Masters winner since Tiger Woods in 2001-02 when he birdied holes 6-9 and took a five-stroke lead to the back nine last season. But he surrendered the lead with bogeys on 10 and 11 and a quadruple-bogey 7 on the par-3 12th that included two balls into Rae’s Creek and finished three strokes behind Danny Willett despite a late rally.

Spieth will battle the memory of his 12th hole horrors this week.

“It will surely be there and it has been,” Spieth said. “It is one of many tournaments I've lost given a certain performance on a hole or a stretch of holes. It happens in this game. … I will do all I can to see all the positives and to grind it out like we did in 2015.”

In Tuesday’s practice round, Spieth hit his tee shot on the 12th to about a foot for a tap-in birdie. “I turned to the crowd and said, ‘I really could have used that one about 12 months ago,’ to some significant laughter,” Spieth said.

Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, who experienced his own collapse with a lead on the back nine at Augusta National in 2011 when he closed with an 80, believes Spieth will mentally move on quickly from the ordeal.

“I can assure you, Jordan will be fine,” McIlroy said. “He'll step up on Thursday on that 12th tee box and he'll just be playing to play the best shot he possibly can. I mean, look, it's tough to get over. Coming back here in 2012, of course your mind does go back to the previous year when you're thinking what could have been. … Those things do run through your mind. But you very quickly snap out of it because this golf course and this tournament requires the utmost concentration and focus.”

McIlroy is part of the Masters storyline, and will be every year until he earns a green jacket to complete the career Grand Slam.

Since winning the final two majors of the 2014 season, McIlroy has his third opportunity at the slam at Augusta National. He finished fourth in 2015 and tied for 10th last year for his third consecutive Masters top-10.

Weather and course conditions could play a factor in determining a champion this week.

The course has sustained rain on Monday and Wednesday and the forecast for the first two rounds calls for temperatures in the 50s and 60s and winds consistently exceeding 20 mph before a sunny and calm weekend.

“With the forecast, with the wind on Thursday and Friday, the golf course is going to play very difficult,” said Coastal Carolina alumnus and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson. “So the short game is going to be very important around here because if it's blowing 27 miles an hour, like it’s forecast for, it's going to be tough to hit the greens. You're going to really have to be careful where you hit it and just try to make pars. If it's soft it will definitely help.”

The closing of the course for much of both Monday and Wednesday could give Masters veterans an advantage because the inexperienced players didn’t have much time to familiarize themselves with the course.

“It's going to take a good five six holes, I think, before we really understand what this golf course is going to give us,” Spieth said. “The biggest change, it just puts more of a premium on speed putting. I mean, big time. You don't want to have 5‑footers from above the hole when the wind is blowing. They are already as challenging as anywhere here, and they become a less than 50/50 chance from five feet with the wind blowing.”

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Spieth seeks redemption in 81st Masters with aid of fear factor."