He's over analyzing his shots now....consequence of more on the line and struggling with his game. Needs to revert back to just playing golf.
The new PGA slug?
- Edited
Yes, absolutely. But here's what I don't get. You've got a 2 or 3 shot lead, you've got two very reachable par5's coming up. Why on earth would you not take a moment of pause, consider the situation, understand the significance of making a simple 2-putt par there, and get your head screwed back on straight?
Up until that point and time in the tournament - he was obsessing over every little detail. But the very moment that he needed to slow things down long enough to rationalize that situation, to process exactly what he needed to do - he just rushes right in and takes on that pin. I mean - Jordan - you've dotted every i and crossed every t up until that point, and despite it taking forever - you're still doing okay. But then you just get up there and fire away, with no thought about where that ball might go if you don't catch it perfectly?
And to do that again, three minutes later, another ball in the same hazard? It took him 5 additional strokes to play that hole after the first ball found the water. He made a double bogey with this second ball! What happens if he drops, puts that third ball on the green, 2-putts for a double? He's in a playoff at the very least, probably wins the damned thing because he's not so shell-shocked going into the last hour of play.
Yeah, it's easy to see that after the fact, sitting in my recliner... but I would think that the kid has watched enough Masters reruns, read up on the tournament history enough, to know that you don't play for birdie there on Sunday with the lead!
I just didn't get it. I don't get the paralysis by analysis, and then suddenly just not giving any thought whatsoever on a little hole with such a notorious history in dealing with greedy players who have the lead on Sunday!
To get bitten by that snake once is bad. Twice? That's unforgivable.
Mental error pure and simple.
Whatever the case, in the last 3 years at The Masters he has finished T2, 1, T2. Also with his win in 2015, he ties the all-time scoring record. Oh yeah, in 2015 He also won the US Open and T4 at the British open and 2 at the PGA.
I can give him a pass for today without being too critical. He is smart and he will learn.
Yeah. I thought he managed things very well at the end, very genuine responses in the post-round, and I think he has the perspective to put this behind him.
I do, however, think he needs to put in a little work to get his swing back in better form. He doesn't have to be perfect, but I do believe he needs to address that chicken-wing that isn't exactly helping that blocked shot that comes up short and right. He'll figure it out. It's not like he needs a swing overhaul.
I honestly think that Karma came up and bit him in the ass on 12 yesterday for all of this shananigans and slow play. You screw with the golf gods long enough and they will bite you in the ass. So instead of the green coats dishing out a few penalty strokes, the golf gods took care of it for us.
This game is never easy, never fair, and never without controversy. But the one thing you can count on are bad swings, bad lies, and bad weather. It's how you handle bad luck that makes or breaks you as a champion. Maybe the kid was unconscious until the end of last year, and maybe now that he isn't hoisting trophies on a regular basis that doubt has crept in. Whatever it is, Jordan Spieth is allowing Jedi mind tricks to fuck with his head.
Wasn't it Lee Trevino that coined the phrase, "golf is 90% mental, and the other 10% is between your ears."
Karma baby. Willett didn't really win the Masters, Spieth mentally choked it away.
I have said it too many times, the kid is good, but he relies on making obscene putts to win because his wedge game sucks. Call it what you will, but he finally proved it to the world on 12. He's nowhere near the player Woods was when he was dominating and this slow play makes it damn near unbearable to watch.
Like I mentioned earlier, none of these guys can think for themselves....the caddy probably didn't tell him where to drop the ball so how would Jordan know?....idiot.
DC300 because his wedge game sucks.
After sitting on the range at Augusta last Monday and specifically watching Jordan Spieth practice, I would disagree with this assessment. These pros are not out there if their wedge game sucks. If anything I seem to recall Spieth chipping in from a bunker or two to win a few tournaments.
But I will assume here that you are saying this in relative terms, comparing him to other PGA Tour pros?
For example, Charl Schwartzel was a robot with laser like accuracy from 75, 150, and 200 yards, hitting a target no more than a yard wide in circumference around the target every time, but Charl did the old fashioned trunk slam Friday afternoon in missing the cut.
I guess my point being that major tournament golf will expose even the smallest flaw in even the best players game. I lost count of the number of pros who would stick practice shots that were beyond accurate and amazing from multiple distances on multiple holes. The skill level is otherworldly, and I even remarked to my brother, that compared to these guys, my golf game is a complete joke. Even as a 6 handicap, these guys are all at a skill level that I don't even understand or can't comprehend. If you are on the PGA Tour, you even make the top 1% of all golfers look bad. That's how good the top 125 in the world are.
Jordan said after the round he wanted a distance where it would hit and stop and 80 yards was the number. That is why he dropped where he did. The distance determination was his.
If he had hit it any worse, he wouldn't have even made the creek.......a layup from 80 yards.
I laid up to a waste area last year from 125, with room to spare, using a 7 wood. Oooooops.
Next he'll pick up that Garcia waggle...
brsmith he's going to be bust saying, "But I'm not Greg Norman" for a while. Didn't think he had a meltdown in him.
Pair him with Kevin Na next time.
I wonder if this thread would exist if he won the tournament?
I play a lot of tournament golf, as a 3 handicapper at my club. I only point that out, not to boast or pat myself on the back, but to convey that even though I might occasionally be critical of how a player on tv behaves or carries himself, or how I might occasionally offer a very biased opinion on a strategy-based play that has me thinking in terms of "what on earth was he thinking!" - I tend to bite my tongue when it comes to the actual nuts-and-bolts of the execution part.
Although I can't relate to that degree of pressure at that level, I know that pressure pretty damned well at my level, on much shorter, simpler course layouts; against players that haven't won 2 majors or made a cut in a pro event back when they were just getting their driving permits. People are free to express their own opinions, all of us at some point or another love to Monday Morning Quarterback. But I don't make much of a habit grilling a guy for succumbing to a degree of pressure that I personally couldn't even begin to fathom.
I reckon I'm just not that qualified to be the guy who pretends to know how easy the game is at that level.
As far as his pace of play and this sudden knack for being overly analytical - that is all fair game, he's earned the grief that comes with being put on the clock two days in a row and being told to pick up his pace. He most certainly needs to get out of this phase before he becomes the poster boy for the 6-hour round.
he's going to be bust saying, "But I'm not Greg Norman" for a while. Didn't think he had a meltdown in him.
The difference between him and Norman is that Spieth Has already won a Masters.
Very true. Nor did I anticipate his blowup on the 12th hole that essentially offed his title defense. I was shocked to see it unfold as quickly and painfully as it did.
The silver lining, however, is that people don't mind seeing humbleness. They don't mind seeing the great ones stumble from time to time, because it is at those very moments when some of us try to figure out just how great they are... not just how they accept what happened, or how they learned from the disappointment, but how they rebound and overcome that disappointment. And the fact that not everyone deals with disappointment the same way is part of what makes sports in general so fascinating sometimes.
Some people don't remember this, but prior to Norman's collapse in '96 - he wasn't looked at very favorably by everybody. He had a side to him that was often perceived to be very arrogant and condescending, he was very opinionated about the direction the Tour was headed and he felt he had all the answers. Nevertheless, his misfortune that Sunday at the Masters back in 1996 was captured and televised all over the world, as people watched this proud, arrogant hot-shot golfer become utterly exposed and humiliated, hole after hole, in shocking, humiliating fashion. He went from being a figure that few people could relate to, that few people liked, to suddenly becoming someone that everyone could relate to and feel pity for.
And Norman, for a brief period in time, seemed to embrace that. Of course - 20 years later he's once again perceived as this arrogant, opinionated figure in the sport who traded in his golf clubs for three-piece suits and clothing and winery businesses. He can't say however that there wasn't an opportunity for him to win over some of his most staunch of critics. He had that opportunity for a brief period in his playing career, but eventually his personality and ego refused to change, so the original perception didn't waste much time returning to the chicken coop to roost.
The same could be said of Tiger, probably the greatest modern day example. His personality and on-course behavior put a lot of people off despite his greatness, but then came the scandal... and there was his huge opportunity, to show a human side, to play the role of a humbled figure that the average person could relate to on some level. But as was the deal with Norman, so too it was with Woods. Too much defiance, too much ego, too much pride, to embrace that opportunity to win over those fans he never had, or those fans he lost because of his careless lifestyle decisions.
Jordan is young, got lots of life lessons yet to learn, hasn't even scratched the surface of what is hopefully a long career left of great wins and frustrating losses. But he has, like Woods and Norman had (albeit of an entirely different nature) an opportunity to win over some folks who've yet to find anything to become attached to.
It's not that we don't find some means of morbid enjoyment watching certain celebrities fall flat on their faces. But on that same token - most of us are complete suckers for storylines involving perseverance and overcoming. If he can somehow get back to work, put this behind him and prevail in the US Open - it'll be a remarkable story that will undoubtedly be the highlight of the season.