AUGUSTA - After years away, lost in the high weeds of mundane golf without a compass, Jordan Spieth is Jordan Spieth again.
A funny thing happened while he was holding up a big trophy Sunday in San Antonio, warming himself on the radiant heat of his first victory in 1,351 days. Spieth looked around and recognized himself once more.
“It felt like me and that’s where I’m supposed to be and this is who I am,” Spieth said Monday.
“Sometimes you lose confidence and you just kind of (develop) a little chink in the armor here and there. That’s kind of what I had experienced.
“So, it was nice to kind of feel normal.”
And, my, what fortunate timing, now that he has arrived at the headwaters of the Masters, a tournament that once treated him like family. And it seems as if that old familial feeling might be coming back.
The three years prior, he’d have to pack excuses and explanations for the trip to Augusta. No need now, coming off a rediscovered brilliance – four top 10s in his last seven starts, including the victory Sunday at the Valero Texas Open. It was the first victory for the 2015 Masters champ since the third of his three major championships, the 2017 British Open.
That drive down Magnolia Lane seemed so much smoother Monday. “When you’re coming in form, it’s a good feeling when you arrive here,” he said. “And I’ve had that a few times.”
Like when he won this thing at the age of 21, with a then record-tying 18 under. Like when he had four top-3 Masters finishes between his first five appearances here between 2014-18. It seemed he could start any given round here unshaven, wearing cut-offs and a tank top and come off No. 18 looking like James Bond. Augusta National had a way of transforming him into his best self.
But assumptions in golf can vanish with the next change in wind direction. Just look at the pattern of one of Spieth’s stats – his relative ranking on the PGA Tour of strokes gained off the tee. He was 29th in 2016. Then 44th in ’17. A drop to 50th in ’18. And a plummet to 176th in in 2019. As those tee balls wandered so did the rest of his game.
His world ranking mirrored the fall, from No. 1 at the close of 2015 to No. 82 at the end of last year (he’s rehabbed that to No. 38 presently).
And even the Masters couldn’t save him. He had his career-worst finish here in November, T-46.
“It’s not like I lost my Tour card,” he joked Monday. But he set such high standards winning three majors by the age of 24. From there, he became the golfing world’s most perplexing riddle. How could a player who had made winning seem so easy – too easy – turn generally non-competitive?
His best friends knew the answer was twofold – patience and confidence.
As Justin Thomas said earlier this year: “Whenever I was asked about it, I wasn’t worried. I mean, I felt for him. I obviously wanted him to perform better. But I wasn’t worried about him. I knew that he would start playing better again, and I know he was going to win again and contend in majors and probably win majors. He’s too much of a gamer.”
“Confidence is such a huge thing,” Thomas added. “You can’t just turn a switch on and say, I’m confident now. It’s all the work that he’s put in, creating those reps to where he’s able to hit the shots that he wants to do and do it enough to where he’s built that confidence back. And now that he has it, it’s just kind of spreading throughout his game.
“It’s great for the game of golf. It’s great for him. I also think it’s great for me. It’ll probably end up pushing me, as well.”
Spieth will start talking about how he is doing a better job of “cleaning up the transition to the ball,” and how he has “shallowed his plane” to the ball and done a better job of tapping into a “timing phase.” If it’s all as complex as he makes it sound, no wonder he got turned around. It’s a miracle his head didn’t explode in the midst of his great downturn.
“It’s just reversing the tens of thousands of balls I hit the wrong way,” he said at one point. “So, it’s going to take however many thousand the right way in practice to transfer fully to the golf course. But I’m feeling in form enough to trust shots and really gain a lot of confidence under pressure.”
Suffice to say, it will just be enough if Spieth is Spieth again.
“I like the progress that I’m making,” he said Monday. “I don’t feel that I have the control of all facets of my game that I want to have yet, but I feel like I’m working the right direction.
“Will that make a difference this week? Don’t know. But I’m going to work at trying to just be a little bit better than I was last week.”
And he won last week. Is there something better than first place? Winning a second Masters might qualify.
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