2023 Masters: Could there be more Easter Sunday magic for Jordan Spieth?
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jordan Spieth’s last two PGA Tour victories have been on Easter Sunday. When told that the final round of the 87th Masters will be played on Easter this week, he said, “That’s good vibes.”
Spieth, who is making his 10th Masters appearance, has a dazzling record at Augusta National. In addition to winning the title in 2015, Spieth has five top-3 finishes, a record matched only by Arnold Palmer. But Spieth is also coming off his first missed cut at the Masters last year.
He left disappointed but nine days later he slipped into a Tartan winner’s jacket on Easter after winning the RBC Heritage, his 13th Tour title.
This year has been a mixed bag for Spieth, 29, who held the first-round lead in January at the Sony Open in Hawaii only to miss the cut. He also had legitimate chances to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Valspar Championship in March but fell short.
More: Jordan Spieth’s history at Augusta National and current odds to win in 2023
“I feel good about the form I’m in,” Spieth said Tuesday during his pre-Masters press conference. “Hopefully we get a firmer, faster Augusta; like it that way. I’ve played better when it is that way. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be that way. But, you know, if it forces a lot more kind of wedges into the par 5s and some angles because of the cooler temperatures and the moisture in the ground, I can certainly look at that as advantageous to me, too. I’ll just spin it positively however I can.”
Spieth, who enters the week ranked 16th in the world, has rejuvenated his career after a lull in which he went winless for 83 starts; it was a span of 1,351 days between winning the 2017 British Open, his third major, and the 2021 Valero Texas Open on Easter Sunday, ahead of the Masters that year. During that stretch, Spieth conceded he searched for a fix but ended up digging an even bigger hole. He was stubborn but eventually began reengineering his swing from impact backward.
“It’s exciting because when I go to the range, I’m confident by the end of the day I know what to improve. That seems like it would be standard every day for a golfer, but there were a lot of years in a row where I would go to the course and I would be uncertain if I would come out that day feeling better or worse,” he said.
Spieth looked at the calluses on his hand and observed, “I’ve got the scars to show the hours.”
Jordan Spieth practices ahead of the 2023 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Network)
Spieth has recorded three top-6 finishes in his last five stroke-play events, and said his game is close but the swing changes he’s made remain a work in progress.
“I don’t feel I have all the weapons right now. But I have enough, and I’m continuing to work on the ones that I don’t have, and I get a little better each day with them,” Spieth said.
Was last year’s missed Masters cut an outlier? Can Spieth float under the radar and win a second green jacket on Easter Sunday? He has scar tissue from failing to close in 2014 and blowing a five-stroke lead on the second nine in 2016 and feeling as if “I should’ve, could’ve won in 2018” when he bogeyed the last and closed in 64.
“I’d love to get in the mix because I feel like right now, I feel better about my game than I’ve felt since probably 2017,” Spieth said.
Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta
He also noted that the sleeves of his green jacket didn’t fit when he won the Masters in 2015, but he declined to have a tailor adjust it.
“I just wanted to keep it in my possession,” he said. “I just had it with me everywhere, and I never got it fixed, and I think they have done it since here because the arms certainly fit a lot better. I left a little room just in case I put on a few pounds over the years. … I’d love to have another one, maybe a little bigger and fit it to my size.”
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