Jordan Spieth is rested and ready to chase second Masters title
As difficult as it is to believe, former Texas standout Jordan Spieth will play his 10th Masters Tournament this week. Based on his previous work at the peerless Augusta National Country Club in Augusta, Ga., Spieth has to be considered as one of the favorites to win the first of the 2023 season’s four majors.
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Spieth’s game seems to be tailored for this event, as his record in his first nine appearances is among the best in Masters history and matched only by the legendary Arnold Palmer. He tied for second in his Masters debut in 2014 and won a green jacket the following year, claiming the first of his three majors.
Since then Spieth tied for second in 2016, when a quadruple bogey-7 at the par-3 12th cost him the championship. He finished third in 2018 and tied for third in 2021. That’s five top-three finishes in nine appearances in the tournament.
“This was my favorite tournament growing up, so qualifying to get here was always a lifelong goal,” Spieth said. “I really fell in love with the game because of this tournament. It inspired me to really take up the game and see what kind of moments you can create, because the ball is always in your hands.”
Last year Spieth missed the cut for the first time. But the following week, on Hilton Head Island, S.C. at the RBC Heritage, he captured just his second tournament since 2017 and the 13th of his professional career.
This season Spieth finished sixth in Scottsdale, fourth in Orlando and third in the Tampa area, all with the designs of peaking this week in the tournament that he admits drove him to be the player he’s become.
“Right now, I feel better about my game that I have since 2017,” Spieth explained. “I don’t feel I have all the weapons right now. But I have enough, and I’m continuing to work on the ones that I don’t have, and I get a little better each day with them.”
In all, 88 players will tee it up this week at Augusta National for the 87th Masters. Spieth, ranked 16th in the world, and Scottie Scheffler, the tournament’s defending champion and the top-ranked player in the world, make up the contingent of Lifetime Longhorns in this year’s field.
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Spieth, Scheffler and Ben Crenshaw, who won twice, are the only University of Texas golfers to capture the Masters.
Spieth has come a long way since winning in 2015, both on and off the golf course. He’s 29 now, married and is the father of a 16-month-old toddling boy.
He’s a veteran of some of golf’s biggest tournaments, produced more than his share of memorable performances and is perhaps already one of the members of the Mount Rushmore of Longhorn men’s golf.
“Ten years here, a lot of experience,” Spieth said Monday. “I can look back and say I learned a lot from winning, and I learned a lot from losing. I have a better perspective now than ever, and hopefully that continues to grow.
“Ultimately, our sport doesn’t get heightened more than it does this week. I like to call it our Super Bowl. But at the same time, that’s still a game, too.”
