Jordan Spieth’s game continued to trend in the right direction this week at The Masters and by Sunday afternoon, he finished with a two-under par round of 70 that earned him a tie for third with Xander Schauffele at seven-under par.
Spieth’s climb back to respectability has been steady this year and he came to Augusta National after winning last week at the Valero Texas Open. He may not have won a second Green Jacket but he did manage to make some Masters history.
On Sunday, Spieth started the day five-under par, a full six shots behind 54-hole leader and eventual winner Hideki Matsuyama. Spieth was up-and-down on the front nine and made the turn one-over. He then got himself back to even with a birdie on the 10th. That three on the difficult 10th meant he birdied that hole every round. No player in the long history of The Masters has accomplished that feat.
Spieth went on to make a back-nine run with birdies at 13, 14 and 17 to get to eight-under par. A bogey at the closing hole dropped him back to seven-under and into that tie for third.
“I just needed a really good start to have a chance today. I just didn’t have a great start,” Spieth said as he looked back on his two-under par closing 70. “Then it was just kind of the story of the week. I hit some good putts, burned a lot of lips, certainly struck the ball well enough to win the golf tournament, and they just didn’t go in. Certainly had them go in here plenty of times. I’m tired. I felt some mental fatigue for sure and made a couple bonehead mistakes over the weekend, just from, I think, maybe the long stretch. But all in all, certainly another good finish here.”
Spieth is getting closer to his old form but admits he’s not quite there yet as he’s now climbed back inside the top 30 in the world rankings, checking in at No. 29. “I wish that I had the control of my swing that I hope is coming or I think is coming soon because it would have made things a little easier this week, and I did strike the ball really well. I hit a lot of fairways. I put myself in position to hit a lot of greens, and distance control is a strength of mine with iron play, and I did a good job of that. So all in all, I’ve made a lot of good progress, but I feel like that road ahead is still significant for me. So I’ve got at least a couple weeks off right now where I’ll rest for a while and then regroup and see if I can get — off weeks are where you can make maybe five percent differences. Tournament to tournament, it’s hard to go more than a couple percent and trust what you’re doing.”
After that time off, Spieth will have the PGA coming up in May at Kiawah Island. “I’ll have a good stretch coming up here in May and June, and I’m excited for what’s to come.”
Jon Rahm Closes With Day’s Best Round:
At even par through 54 holes after three straight rounds of 72, Jon Rahm was simply too far behind overnight leader Hideki Matsuyama — 11 shots to be exact.
But that didn’t stop Rahm from going out Sunday and giving it his best effort. He closed with a bogey-free six-under par 66 that featured four birdies and an eagle three at the par five second.
“Satisfied,” was how Rahm described his finish, giving him a tie for fifth with Marc Leishman at six-under par. It was his fourth straight top 10 in The Masters.
“Yeah, of course I’m happy,” Rahm said. “It’s still a top five at a major with a great round on a Sunday. If anything, what is it? — 15 straight rounds of even par or better here? Clearly I like the place. I play good here. My year is coming up. Let’s hope it’s soon.”
