A young stud his entire life, Spieth burst on the PGA Tour scene as a teenager, winning in a playoff against a Masters champion, and turning that first win into a career that has been nothing short of prodigal. A disappointing 2014 final round at the Masters was a coming-of-age moment for Spieth, who would go on to blitz the field in 2015 for his first green jacket and arrived at Augusta National in 2016 the favorite for good reason.
For 62 holes last year, it was another career moment for Spieth, looking to be just the fourth person to win back-to-back Masters and in doing so conjuring up comparisons to Jack and Arnie and Tiger and Phil. That was, of course, until the 11th and then the 12th, a moment that will forever be in Spieth’s major championship bio no matter how many big ones he goes on to win.
This week people have focused on those two holes. A bogey on the 11th followed by a water ball on the 12th, a tight golf swing at the worst moment followed by a mental lapse that led to a quadruple-bogey 7 and virtually the end to the rare opportunity that a chairman, not a player, awards the green jacket.
