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Augusta (USA), On the 20th anniversary of an epic Masters meltdown Augusta National witnessed a far more shocking collapse on Sunday as Jordan Spieth self-destructed on the back nine to gift the Green Jacket to Danny Willett.
Gasps of disbelief rumbled around Amen Corner as defending champion Spieth, who led by five shots after nine holes, dropped six shots during a three-hole stretch that will go down as one of the most stunning crashes at a Major.
“It was a very tough 30 minutes for me that hopefully I will never experience again,” said a shell-shocked Spieth. “I can’t imagine that was fun for anyone to experience other than Danny’s team. At one point I told (caddie) Mike (Greller), ‘it seems like we’re collapsing.’ This one will hurt. It will take awhile.”
Until Spieth’s back-nine catastrophe, it was Greg Norman who had been linked for two decades with Masters misery. Each year it seemed a Masters tradition to recall Norman’s 1996 debacle when the Australian entered the final round with a six-shot cushion and agonizingly watched it evaporate while a charging Nick Faldo overtook him to snatch a third Green Jacket.
“Jordan spit the bit almost Normanesque like,” said Paul Azinger, a Major winner and former Ryder Cup captain for the United States.
While Norman’s Masters dream endured a slow death, Spieth’s demise was brutal in its speed and ferocity.
In 50 pulsating minutes, the 22-year-old Texan saw what looked like an inevitable coronation turn into a death march, the day ending with a dejected Spieth trudging up the 18th fairway in the Georgia twilight knowing he let Masters history slip through his fingers.
Crazy quadruple
Firing on all cylinders, Spieth stormed into the turn on the back of four consecutive birdies to build a five-shot lead. But suddenly without warning the wheels fell off Spieth’s drive to victory. A bogey at 10, another at 11 and then the knockout punch, a quadruple bogey at the par-three 12th. “It’s a tough one. I knew the lead was five with nine holes to play,” said Spieth. “I knew that those two bogeys weren’t going to hurt me. But I didn’t take that extra deep breath and really focus on my line on 12. Instead I went up and I just put a quick swing on it. That hole for whatever reason just has people’s number.”
Peers shocked
World No. 1 Jason Day was “absolutely shocked” while Lee Westwood pointed to the fine line between success and disaster at the Masters after Spieth’s astonishing collapse.
“I was on (hole) 15 and I was absolutely shocked when I saw Jordan go from five (under) to one (under),” Australian Day said after closing with a one-over 73 to share 10th place. “It’s tough. It’s tough to win Major championships. “So many things and emotions, so many things go through your mind. Sometimes you just don’t feel comfortable on certain shots. And unfortunately he hit a bad shot and another bad shot.”
Spieth’s worst damaging moments came at the par-three 12th where he hit successive shots into the waters of Rae’s Creek in front of the green before finding a back bunker with his fifth en route to a mind-boggling seven.
Like Day, England’s former world No. 1 Westwood first became aware of Spieth’s stunning collapse while he was playing the par-five 15th. “I saw the leaderboard when I chipped in on 15,” said the 42-year-old. “I hadn’t really looked much until that stage. There was a massive scoreboard out there and a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’. It happens around here. There is a fine line here between success and disaster on this golf course.”
For PGA Tour rookie Smylie Kaufman, who played with Spieth in the final pairing, it “just kind of stunk” to watch his fellow American’s collapse.
