None of us has a crystal ball in what the Tournament Committee at Augusta was thinking when it came time to plan the course setup, but I'm wondering if maybe they didn't like it that an average length hitter like Speith came within a whisker of setting a new tournament scoring record last year. It seems like maybe they wanted a course setup that would yield a high single digit or low double digit winner and then the wind kicked in and suddenly we've got what we've got. I'm finding this Masters hard to watch. Speith's Thursday 66 is the outlier round of the Tournament so far. Someone might get there today if the winds are down a little but I'm not counting on it. A US Open where someone grinds out 12 pars in a row can be a pleasure to watch at times. A Masters where someone does the same not so much. JMO.

    "He will need to be better as Augusta is usually rude to guys who play like that eventually."

    Augusta was not only rude, but punched him in the face as well.

    mcavoy

    Not sure the committee had much control over the wind. Sure, they could've syringed the $hit out of the greens to keep them ultra soft, but then you're taking away the one dynamic that makes the Masters what it is. It's always been about being on the proper side of the fairway, hitting to the proper quadrant of the green, missing the green in the proper place where recovery isn't completely impossible if a player is out of position from his approach. If those greens are soft - there's no penalty for missing. Overnight rains made the greens soft as it was for Thursday's round, so it wasn't like they weren't holding long approach shots, even downwind. It was what it was... take away those winds the first three days and really there's no noticeable change in difficulty from last year to this year.

    Sunday was ripe for great scoring, but only 3-4 players managed 5-under rounds. I just think the stress of playing in those high winds over the three days wore a lot of those guys out, and the numbness factor kicked in on Sunday. Jordan was leading, no one expected him to go backward, and that meant guys like McIlroy, Day, Dustin, Matsuyama, Snedeker, etc. had to take on some difficult hole locations to make some birdies and try to catch him, and even in the best conditions they still had to walk an extremely fine line on every shot, with little-to-no margin for error on several of those pins. Rory went at the pin on the par3 4th, which didn't yield a single birdie the entire round Sunday. World-class player, hits the ball higher than anyone in the game, in the calmest conditions imaginable - he damn near hits the ball off the golf course. You just don't go at that pin, from 228 yards, tucked 4 paces over that deep front bunker, Rory! Not even if you're needing a deuce to save your future offspring! LOL

    But no one expected Spieth to do what he did on the 12th... sure, the kid makes bogey on 10, bogey on 11... he's still got like a 3-shot cushion and the world is his, two par5's coming up, a chance to get those shots back, has a history of bouncing back and regaining his composure.

    And he just threw it all away, penthouse to the outhouse, 5 minutes later. So many stories about that little par3, how it has derailed many hopes on Sunday in the Masters, all because it's only 152 yards. That little flag, resting peacefully in the right-middle portion of the green, so pretty... so serene, so doable, so tantalizing... it's a wedge, maybe 9-iron. "Come on - step up and just knock one close, tap in a 3-footer and give the patrons a show," the devil on the right shoulder says. The player doesn't listen to the angel on his left shoulder. "Psst - hey - don't listen to him. You're leading, you've got a cushion, two par5's coming up. Don't even go at that flag - nothing wrong with middle of the green - get your par and move on."

    What was thought to have been a little harmless garden snake in reality is a Black Mamba... one of the deadliest serpents on the entire planet, just half of the venom it injects through its fangs can kill a full-grown adult elephant in less than an hour.

    Jordan got greedy. He listened to the guy perched on his right shoulder, a monumental lapse of judgement. Not even if you've been knocking down pins through 11 holes - you don't take that hole location on with the lead. The deadly serpent struck, and after the shellshock sank in, the complete and utter numbness of everything moving much too soon - Jordan still had an opportunity to minimize the damage but just got ahead of himself. The same greed led to another dose of Black Mamba venom, and that, as they say, was all she wrote.

    Kuddos to him for being mature enough to take it like a grown man, to sit there in front of the camera 10 minutes after the round to let the world know how bad it sucked. Not sure anyone else would've taken that on, that soon.

    He'll have more chances. He'll be back. And hopefully he'll be back without the Keegan Bradley-like twitches, the Jim Furyk-like back off routine, and stop analyzing every little thing to the nth degree. Work on tightening up that swing and go play golf and have fun, young man! Who in their right mind wouldn't want to be you?!

    The buried story Sunday evening, unfortunately, is Danny Willett playing some fabulous golf over the four days and accomplishing one of the greatest feats in all of golf. It will be overshadowed by the main headline of Spieth losing his mind on the 12th.

    I remember watching Norman in '96, thought that was bad. Then in '99 - along came Jean Van de Velde at Carnoustie and I said wow - it doesn't get any worse than this. Then in '06 at Winged Foot, Mickelson completely rewrote the definition of a choke job.

    And now, 10 years later... Jordan - sorry buddy. Maybe not enough time has passed and the shock factor is still kicking, but I think you might've topped that notorious list.

    Wow. Still can't believe it.

    Congrats to Danny Willett!

      brsmith

      It's tough to argue. It's a close race, for sure.

      Spieth hit a lot of quirky shots this week. He also hit some incredible shots. Sometimes you gotta have the middle-of-the-road shots to get it done too. He was either great or just really out of sorts, and interestingly enough it was the back-nine that brought out the worst.

      I don't pretend to know anything about those guys, what they feel, the pressure, the desire to win, the amount of work they put in. All I know is what I see, and sometimes that doesn't tell the entire story.

      Unfortunately for Danny Willett though - his win is going to be overshadowed not because of what he did so well, but because of what Jordan did. Kinda the same with Ogilvy in '06, and Lawrie in '09.

      I guess had Willett pulled a Schwartzel and run off 6-straight birdies to come from behind and run away with the thing like Charl did back in 2011, he'd be the guy being talked about on Golf Channel this evening. But I'm no less happy for him. He's had an impressive run the past couple of seasons, really found some competitive form that has him matching some of the best players in the world.

      Like everyone else I was shocked to see the shortest hole on the layout make a meal out of Jordan, but I'm no less happy for Danny. He played remarkably well Sunday, for all 18 holes. That takes some heart.

          By his own admission he didn't have the conviction to just put it in those back bunkers on #12. He ended up getting up and down for his 7 from the back bunker. As hard as that hole is the play seems to be to error on the side of too long than too short in the drink.

          PA-PLAYA I'm not sure where you read that I suggested Augusta had any kind of control over the wind. What I did suggest is that if they opted for a more difficult setup this year than last then the wind that did arrive acted to make the course a slog. Augusta would never admit to making a mistake but I doubt the tournament that unfolded was what they had in mind. I do agree with you though in that Willett's win might be viewed through the prism that Speith lost it, not that he won it. Which is unfortunate because he shot 33 on the back 9 yesterday which in this years Masters is a huge feat. The back 9 cause players fits all week so to go bogey free there on Sunday was impressive. That said, give any top player a 5 shot lead at the turn on Sunday and every one of them will tell you that if they don't win it, then they lost it, not some other guy won it. Just one of those situations where you can say that it was both won and lost at the same time.

              mcavoy I do agree with you though in that Willett's win might be viewed through the prism that Speith lost it, not that he won it.

              If I had to guess, I would think we will look back on this tournament in a similar fashion to Stewart Cink's lone British Open and only major title. Tom Watson lost that tournament, more than Cink had won it. And by my count, how's Cink's record since that win?

              I'm not suggesting the same thing will happen to Danny Willett, because I do believe he earned his green jacket with his fantasticly flawless Sunday round, but I think just like Greg Norman's demise in '96, we don't talk about Faldo winning it that year, we talk about Greg Norman choking it away.

              So I would imagine that we'll be discussing the great Spieth Masters choke job for decades to come.

                It'll take a while for Jordan to process what happened on Sunday. Just as it did with Phil back in '06.

                Some believe, I'm sure, that this moment will define his career going forward, and I'm talking primarily about the ignorant few who believe that the only reason the kid has gotten to where he is currently is because of his putting. I find that laughable to be honest. Ask any number of struggling players on tour how great life is out there, how long they hold onto their tour cards, relying on making 15 footers for par most of their rounds. Can you say, "Excuse me, but do you know when the next Q-school dates are?"

                He needs to work on a few things in his swing. That's all it is. He doesn't need to do a Tiger Woods overhaul every 3 years, doesn't need to stack and tilt like Weir did before things started going south. Subtle changes. That's why Adam Scott's swing has held up over the years - nothing radical. Same with Jim Furyk, same with Zach Johnson, same with just about every player who plays at a fairly consistent level. But to hear some of his critics talk - you'd think this guy is Tommy 2-Gloves Gainey just holding on by a thread for his professional existence! LOL...

                Jordan will be back. And hopefully he'll stop with the analyzing and towel drying the grips and throwing up tufts of grass in 3 mph winds and the old Furyk 4-step over the ball on the greens. That very well could be the biggest part of his problem.

                This kid hits too many great shots, from all aspects, to be a one-trick pony. He's got a good golfing mind. And he needs to remind himself over the next couple of weeks that he's got 2 more majors than 99% of his critics.

                He'll be back, he ain't done yet.