Least of all Jordan Spieth.
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The Texan was visibly upset, as one would be, after the tournament in which he held a five shot lead in the final round and was then forced to hand the green jacket to the man who usurped him, Danny Willett.
But, affecting his game long term?
Alas, the rest is history and we are now comparing the young Dallas golfer’s epic collapse with the worst chokes in sporting history. “We’ve had a lot of encouraging messages from really nice people around the world offering advice if I need it so we’ve got a lot of good people on our side”. Of his plans until then, he said: “Put my feet up and just drink tea and relax and have some family time and think about what we’ve done”. Willett’s victory also sent him into the world top 10 at number nine after entering the week ranked 12th.
The 22-year-old defending champion was visibly shaken when he came off the 18th tee, tied for second place and questions were asked over how much damage will have been done to his hitherto solid mindset.
“A dream of mine was to win major championships and that’s what I dedicated myself to do, to work hard and gain that self belief it one day might happen and weirdly, three days ago, that’s exactly what did happen”.
“I can’t think of anybody who may have had a tougher ceremony to experience”, he said.
What really bothered Spieth was that after opening Thursday with a bogey-free 66, he posted three consecutive rounds over par. Everybody felt that one, including Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry, who just couldn’t even when he heard Spieth hit two into the water hazard on 12.
Willett joked his apologies but Ferguson was quick to make it clear he was delighted that the Yorkshireman had become only the second English player after Nick Faldo to win the voted Green Jacket. But it’s my expectations. Did he lose The Masters on the back nine on Sunday, or had he been struggling with his swing for 63 holes when he made the turn Sunday afternoon?
Do not worry about Spieth.
Spieth, the defending U.S. Open champion, was installed by the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook on Monday as the favorite at 7-1 to win the tournament, which tees off June 16 at Oakmont Country Club.
“We’ll just keep doing the things we’ve been doing, ticking the boxes we said we’d do day by day and making sure we’re trying to get better every time we go out and work”, he explained. And we did. I rebounded.
“His dad came in and asked me to him get started and I gave him a few lessons. I made two birdies coming in and nearly made a couple more”.
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In 2017, when Spieth, Willett and plenty of other hopefuls go at it, sit your butt down and watch greatness unfold once again.
