After bogeying the 72nd hole, Jordan Spieth lowered his head as he exited the Champions Locker Room. In his left hand were his Under Armour golf shoes. In his right was a green Crow’s Nest cup, filled with a locally brewed wheat ale.
“I made a tremendous amount of mental mistakes,” Spieth said. “To be this close, it’s nice, but it almost frustrates me more.”
The 2015 Masters Champion was 7-under through 17 holes on Sunday, and had sliced his pre-round deficit of 10 to 3. Then, the shot that cost him in 2018 reappeared.
Standing on No. 18 tee box, Spieth toed his drive left, forcing a pitch-out. The end result was five. And when playing partner Phil Mickelson birdied the hole, their positions on the towering white leaderboard flipped.
Spieth’s bogey capped a final round 66, yet a bittersweet tie for fourth. It marked Spieth’s sixth top-5 in 10 tries at Augusta National.
“I played way too much coming into this,” Spieth said. “I came in mentally fatigued, and you overwork this week every year. I mean, this is eight out of 10 weeks. I need to change my schedule going forward to be sharper this week.”
Spieth noted his mental mistakes — most notably his Thursday decision to go pin hunting on No. 13. Spieth found the hazard and needed seven strokes to finish the hole.
