AUGUSTA, Ga. – Advancing into Sunday at the Masters, Jordan Spieth captivated a four-shot lead, and that was abundant to ensure that this day would see a memorable story, one either of celebration at a adolescent age or of gut-punch collapse.
With almost a doubt, Spieth delivered a celebration cheap hats that will now accept the absolute golf apple apprehensive if it hasn’t just witnessed the additional advancing of … Tiger Woods.
A lofty, if not abortive allegory for sure, but accede this: Woods was 21 years old if he won his aboriginal major, the Masters, accomplishing it in almanac appearance at 18-under par for the tournament. (No one had accomplished lower than 17-under before.) Spieth is 21, just a few months earlier than Woods was aback in 1997, and won this Masters at 18-under.
What’s more, Spieth became just the fifth amateur – and aboriginal aback 1976 – to advance the clash wire-to-wire, something not even Tiger has managed to do in his four Masters victories.
Spieth has said he’s dreamed of arena in the Masters his accomplished life, which is alarming but not absolutely as absorbing if you accede the actuality that he hadn’t even accomplished preschool if Tiger won his aboriginal blooming jacket. So it’s not like he’s suffered connected in following of his dream. But afterwards an opening-round 64 on Thursday, he’s been accustomed the weight of apprehension for the absolute tournament. (Maybe even best than that, because he accomplished additional actuality in his admission endure year and entered this year’s clash as one of the abundant favorites.)
Spieth had spent all weekend aggravating to outrun the best in golf, and by Sunday, the best in golf had marshaled for one endure run at him. For arduous name recognition, the Sunday leaderboard ranked as one of the best in Masters history, accumulation the cast new (Spieth), the iconic (Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson), the ascendant apple No. 1 (Rory McIlroy), and the arch bend of golf’s accepted bearing (Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose).
Only Rose (four acclamation back), Mickelson (five strokes), and Charley Hoffman (six strokes) had any astute adventitious of communicable Spieth. But if Augusta National appear awful favorable pin locations for the final day, catastrophe a anniversary in which Spieth had birdied around every aperture on the advance at one time or another, it was bright that alone an aberrant accomplishment would bolt Spieth, and even that ability not be enough.
Spieth concluded the aboriginal day three acclamation cheap snapbacks hats advanced of Hoffman, and no one would get any afterpiece until the additional aperture on Sunday. At that point, Rose, the 2013 U.S. Accessible winner, had just drained his additional baboon to accessible the day and move aural three shots. But on the actual next hole, Spieth birdied and Rose parred, and the advance jumped aback up to four.
Woods and McIlroy, meanwhile, weren’t able to arise any affectionate of aboriginal charge. The Johnsons (Dustin and Zach) put calm the best runs of the blow of the acreage in the aboriginal going, but it was like aggravating to bolt a horse at the Kentucky Derby with a half-lap lead. Even if McIlroy bent blaze on the aback nine, application four birdies to move him to 12-under for the tournament, the world’s No. 1 was still not even abutting to contention.
The alone being that could bolt Spieth on this day was Spieth.
He wasn’t perfect, but for every misstep, Spieth had an answer, and again some. He bogeyed two holes on the foreground nine, but birdied three. Rose, his arena partner, was never afterpiece than three shots, and even again for alone a few moments.
By the time they fabricated the turn, Spieth, at 17-under, was 5 acclamation in the clear, abrogation alone one affair in doubt: would he bolt or bigger Woods’ clash almanac of 18-under.
On the par-5 13th, Spieth autonomous to claiming the frontside brook and go for the blooming in two.
“Go hard,” he yelled at the brawl as his access flew through the air. It did, landed cautiously on the blooming and formed to aural 14 anxiety of the pin.
If there was any agnosticism – and there wasn’t, not even with Mickelson ambuscade at four aback – it finer concluded appropriate then. Spieth fabricated birdie, affective him to 18-under, and the adventure to bout ’97 Tiger continued.
Another baboon at 15 put him at 19-under, about cheap new era hats no amateur had anytime been in the 78 antecedent times the Masters had been played.
Only a bogey at 18 kept him from ambience the record. Still, he angry Tiger’s almanac of 18-under, and the blooming anorak was his.