Though he covered the last six holes in one-under, he had effectively handed the green jacket to Englishman Danny Willett as he finished three shots back in a tie for second place, leaving the fans and his fellow players in stunned disbelief.
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As you’ve probably seen or heard about by now, poor Jordan Spieth had an bad back nine during the final round of the Masters on Sunday, causing him to fall from a multi-stroke lead to an eventual tie for second.
The 22-year-old golf phenom shot a quadruple-bogey 7 on the 12th hole as his lead slipped away to a three-shot deficit behind the eventual champion, Danny Willett.
Jordan Spieth couldn’t bear to watch, turning his head before another shot splashed into Rae’s Creek.
Willett was already ranked 19th in the world at the end of 2015, but Chandler revealed the lengths the former world amateur number one is prepared to go to in order to achieve success.
“He had his trainer here (in Augusta) and he’s got a bad back, so once a month he has a check-up, and then he goes on and does his thing properly”.
In describing the disastrous holes when he lost his lead, Spieth said, “I think it was really a tough 30 minutes for me that I hope I will never experience again”.
“This will damage him for a while”. “You make that putt, you never know what might happen”.
“You only have to get a little bit off with your thoughts or your swing or your clubbing and that course can bite you”.
His driver let him down in several key situations – none more apparent than the final two holes of the third round when errant tee shots led to a bogey-double bogey finish – and his iron play was, by his own admission, average at best. “That’s just golf and that’s the way it happens”.
With Willett moving from No. 12 to No.9, Patrick Reed is the only golfer to fall out of the top 10. “That’s the harshness of it”.
“He had a chance to do something truly special and something very few have done before – and be the youngest to accomplish that – and he just didn’t pull through”.
I agree with him on that last part. With a false front in the front of the green going into the water, a front-sloping green steering the ball towards the water, and a bunker in the back that is not easy to control out of, this hole is harder than it looks.
“I’m very confident in the way that we play the game of golf”, Spieth said. Instead of whining or hurting their confidence, he’ll respond by what is it I need to do in pressure situations under important situations like that, how do I get better. I have no doubt about that ability. “It will take a while”.
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McIlroy said he feels sure that he is not in danger of turning into another Phil Mickleson, who has won three of the four majors but finished second six times in the US Open, the only one he has yet to win. It was nearly just a matter of time around that course before he slipped up.
