Jordan Spieth may be one of the best scorers at Augusta National, but last year’s epic meltdown on the 12th hole has started a malicious trend for the Texan native. During the opening round at the 81st Masters, Spieth made another quadruple bogey.
Spieth started the round well, making the turn at even par. He made par on the infamous 12th hole, and then birdied the 13th to get one under. A three-putt on 14 left him back at even, but it was the 15th hole that was reminiscent of the last round he played at the azalea clad course.
After laying up with his second shot, Spieth’s approach came up short and spun back into the pond guarding the green. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, his fifth shot (after taking a drop) went right over the green. He chipped on from there and had a second straight three-putt. The damage added up to a nine, giving Spieth quadruple bogeys in consecutive Masters rounds.
“You think of it as a birdie hole, obviously being a par 5. And unfortunately I still thought of it as a birdie hole today and it really isn’t, when you lay up. So I didn’t take my medicine, and hit it about 15 feet right with a club that takes the spin off,” Spieth said. “Instead I was stuck in the 15‑is‑a‑birdie‑hole mentality, and it kind of bit me a little bit. I struck the shot well, I just hit the wrong club. I struck it very solid, I used a club that would spin instead of one that would maybe take the spin off.”
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The 15th hole is often thought of as one of the easiest on the course, but only 56% of players hit the green on Thursday. The pin sat on the left side of the narrow green, and with the blistering winds of the day, many who went for the pin found their balls rolling back into the water.
Spieth ended up with a score of 75, his worst opening-round finish in his Masters career by four shots. While no player has ever won after making a quadruple bogey, because of the harsh conditions of the day, Spieth isn’t that far behind.
2017 Las Vegas Masters Odds:
*Before DJ withdrew
Plus it seems like he has a pretty great attitude towards the day.
“I think I learned a lot about the golf course today and the expectation for where to take advantage and where not to,” Spieth said. “And the weekend it looks like there’s going to be no wind. It looks something like single digits might win this tournament. And I certainly can post single digit under par at this point — got three rounds to go.”
It’s not a great place to start, but the best thing about golf is that the next day you can start fresh. It might be hard to catch up to Charley Hoffman’s -7 round, but again, anything can happen.
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