By his own admission, Jordan Spieth’s a bit bewildered entering the final round of the 81st Masters, and who can blame him?
He's behind.
Not way behind, mind you, but still two strokes off the lead and with three players ahead of him on the leaderboard. So he might have something equally miraculous like his previous visits here to add to his résumé. And he actually likes the challenge.
Sitting in a tie for fourth is unfamiliar territory for someone like Spieth, who incredibly was one shot off the lead on the 15th hole Saturday and, until a three-putt bogey on No. 16, was flirting with becoming the first golfer in history to play in the final pairing of a Sunday at four consecutive Masters.
He’ll settle for the second grouping with Rickie Fowler as they try to chase down co-leaders Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia, who are 6 under par. Rose has won a U.S. Open, and Garcia’s list of major titles remains open — as in blank after 73 tries. Fowler, one back at 5 under, once finished in the top five of all four majors, in 2014, but he’s still devoid of one of those titles, too.
Among all of them, only Spieth has worn green.
True to his style, he relishes the opportunity to be in pursuit, even though he was atop the Masters leaderboard for eight of his first 12 rounds here. So being chased or chasing others, it’s all the same to him.
“So new experience for me coming from behind on Sunday at the Masters, which is kind of fun to say,” he said. “I plan to play aggressive. Finishing fifth versus 10th doesn’t mean much to me, so that frees me up a bit tomorrow.”
The way he began this tournament, it's a wonder he'll finish at all. But why would he care about any place but first after going 2-1-2 in his first three cracks here? Spieth wants the victory while Fowler, Rose and especially Garcia need to win it. For validation as much as victory. With that desire can come pressure, although Rose appears oblivious.
Such a relaxed mindset, coupled with his usual grit and steely-eyed confidence, gives Spieth a leg up.
It’s remarkable that he gathered himself after his opening-round 75 and put himself into contention again after registering a disastrous quadruple-bogey on the par-5 No. 15 Thursday. He was so far back in the pack, he was barely in the pack, a whopping 10 shots back, but he posted a 69 and a 68 the past two days behind 13 birdies, five on Saturday.
Never mind that no one's come from that far back to win since Harry Vardon did so to win the Open. The 1898 Open. But Spieth's all about making history.
That’s been par for the course for the 23-year-old former Texas Longhorn, who’s gotten off to sluggish starts this season. While he hasn’t always overcome those deficits, he’s won three tournaments since last year’s Masters, including Colonial and Pebble Beach. It looked to doom him Thursday, but didn’t.
“I was at the cutline after the first round,” he said. “I knew that. The advantage to being 10 off the lead this year versus other years was one guy was four strokes ahead of everybody else.”
Now that one guy is behind Spieth and others.
Charlie Hoffman, a ninth-place finisher here in 2015 when Spieth ran away with the Masters with 28 birdies, was threatening to become a wire-to-wire winner and remained atop the leaderboard until he coughed up the lead with a bogey at 14 and a double-bogey at 16. He struggled to an even par to settle in a tie for fourth with Spieth and Ryder Cup hero Ryan Moore.
As Spieth said, he’s been down big before, trailing Daniel Summerhays by six shots before storming back to capture the 2013 John Deere Classic. Of course, that’s not customary for him. Of his nine Tour wins, the first two were of comeback nature, but he either led or shared the 54-hole lead in the last seven wins.
For sure, Spieth’s confidence is intact. Forget the quadruple-bogey he made on Thursday. He has. He birdied the hole on Saturday, the 29th consecutive hole he’d played without a bogey. That’s the largest stretch of any golfer in the field.
No Masters champion has ever won the tournament with even a triple-bogey, much less a quad-bogey. Spieth scored a nine on the hole and still is within two of the lead.
After shooting a 4 over par through the 15 opening holes, Spieth has gone 8 under with nine birdies and a single bogey in the past 26 holes. He needed just 30 putts Saturday and leads the field in scrambling, something that must continue if he’s to win again.
Spieth showed his putting verve on No. 6 with a tricky uphill putt for a birdie and his scrambling ability on No. 10 after missing the fairway to the left and flying the green with his approach shot but still getting down for par.
His finest shot of the day might have been his 4-iron out of the pine straw bordering the doglegged 13th fairway. He crushed it a la Phil Mickelson in 2010 and got himself close enough on the green to have a realistic shot at an eagle. His winding putt of 30 feet curved just left of the cup but left him a routine birdie to go to 4 under.
An eavesdropping television microphone heard Spieth channel his inner Arnold Palmer as he said, “What would Arnie do?”
Just what Spieth did Saturday and what Palmer did over and over as a four-time champion here, winning in alternate years in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964. Maybe that’s a good omen, too. Spieth won in 2015. The 2017 champion will be crowned Sunday.
