Destiny's Child
Jordan Spieth fired a final round 70 to post 18-under-par 270 to win the 79th Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. His total score, 270, tied Tiger Woods’ tournament record set in 1997. He defeated three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson and 2013 U.S. Open champ Englishman Justin Rose by four shots to collect his first green jacket.
Spieth led after 18, 36 and 54 holes alone and became the first player since Raymond Floyd in 1976 to win the tournament in wire-to-wire fashion without ever sharing the lead. He posted the 36-hole record after firing 64-66 after Friday; he posted 200 after three rounds to set that record as well. To put a bow on the proceedings, Spieth became the first player in 79 tournaments to reach 19-under after his final birdie on Sunday at No. 15. He played so well that his lead never was less than three on Sunday.
He opened the week with 64, the second-lowest opening round in history and set the marker for the week. With ideal scoring conditions available (variable winds, soft-ish greens) Spieth took full advantage as shown by his scores above. The weather that had gamers on the edge of their seat early in the week never materialized and the course neither played long and soft nor fast and furious much to the dismay of players and gamers alike. If there is one factor that gamers and players can never predict it is the weather; the only other factor that they can’t figure out is how the tournament committee will set up the course on the weekend. After last year when there were only five rounds in the 60s on Sunday and just 21 for the week, the opposite happened this year: a shootout. Not too many players had the firepower of Spieth this week!
Why This Performance Doesn’t Surprise:
If this was the first week or first time that any new gamers jumped in, I would suggest they will now be hooked for life. WOW, THIS IS EASY!!! Well, yes it is because when recent form meets course history, everyone is an expert! Spieth has been rearranging the rules of fantasy golf since his first win in the summer of 2013 at the JDC. My buddy Mal tweeted last week that Spieth would have won gamers 210 points over the last three events BEFORE this week in the Yahoo! game. Spieth won in December in Australia at Royal Melbourne, another Alister MacKenzie design, before THRASHING the field at the Hero World Challenge at Tiger’s former home of Isleworth outside Orlando. Those events were unofficial in points and money but hardly in standing as most veteran gamers will point out. Spieth backed his powerful December with a February that started his year T7-MC-T7-T4. March continued with T17-P1-2nd so he hardly faded. His April has started with playoff loss and a Masters green jacket.
Why This Performance Surprises:
I can’t say that it does. He led after all three rounds and closed out the deal. The nit-picker will point out he didn’t close the deal against “lesser competition” last week but I’m not down with that. The experts suggested that he’s not long enough to keep up with the big boys on this track. I don’t really buy that either. The ONLY surprise this week was getting it to 19-under, the ONLY player EVER to do that in 79 tournaments.
How Spieth Won This Week:
Well, he’ll be taking home a green jacket but he won’t take any crystal with him as he didn’t make any eagles. Boo hoo! Maybe next year, son! Chin up!
He rolled home 28 birdies this week, setting ANOTHER record, as he broke Mickelson’s total of 25 in 2001. Interestingly, Mickelson didn’t win that year.
He was T2 in GIR for the week as he hit 75% of ‘em. Not bad for a guy who entered the week No. 103 on TOUR in said category. His iron play was beautiful in that number; it was even better because more often than not, his irons found the PROPER places on the greens. That’s the key to making low numbers around here and he did that spectacularly this week.
Of the 55 players to play the weekend, Spieth was 44th in driving distance and just inside the top 25 in fairways. More proof that driving the golf ball is not where the focus should be for gamers during this week.
He finished the week T3 in putts per hole and only had three, three-putts. He only found two bunkers on the week as well and got up-and-down half of the time.
The birdie machine cashed in on the par threes with five (T1), 10 on the par fours (T2) and 13 on the par fives which led the field. So much for a short hitter that doesn’t find many fairways!
He held his nerve sleeping on the lead for three nights. He stuck with his plan and never found himself in much trouble. He only made one double to go along with eight other bogeys. His final one was on the 72nd-hole which saw him tie Woods’ record instead of beat it. Whatever. He was magnificent.
Moving Forward
I would suggest the sky is the limit for this kid but that would be an insult to the sky. The final question, if any, gamers had with this kid is whether or not he could win enough or win a major. With four victories in his last 11 worldwide starts INCLUDING a major, that argument should be put to bed. Those gamers holding him in keeper leagues, WELL DONE! Those of you who don’t have him, well, I don’t think I need to try and convince the non-believers any more.
With This Win:
Spieth joins a very exclusive club with green jackets and becomes the second-youngest winner at Augusta. He pockets $1.8 million and 600 FedExCup points. He’ll set the dinner menu next year as he looks to improve on his T2-WIN career record on these hallowed grounds. Blimey.
Déjà vu All Over Again?
After 28 wins in 45 events last season, the USA continues its dominance this year. Brooks Koepka, Bill Haas, Jimmy Walker, Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman, Bubba Watson, Ryan Moore, Robert Streb, Ben Martin, Brandt Snedeker, James Hahn (born in Korea; US citizen), Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Matt Every, Walker again, J.B. Holmes and Spieth again are the USA champs. Alex Cejka (Germany), Paddy Harrington (Ireland), Sangmoon Bae (Korea), Nick Taylor (Canada) and Jason Day (Australia) are the five international winners in the first 22 events.
Haas, Bae, Martin, Moore, Walker and now Spieth have closed their 54-hole leads. Walker and Spieth are the only persons on BOTH sides of his list. Walker couldn’t close out at HTOC but came back and won the following week at Sony. Spieth, who was 0-4 with the 54-hole lead in his career on TOUR, couldn’t hold out last week before winning this week. No offense to SHO but he’ll take this one! He’s 21 until 29 July. He’s now 1-5 with the 54-hole lead. HEY, HE HAS SOMETHING TO WORK ON IN THE OFFSEASON!!!
After 13 first-time winners in 2013 there were only 10 last year. After 20 events in 2015, Martin, Streb, Taylor, Koepka, Hahn and Cejka have made their breakthroughs. No first-timers will ever win on this course. I’ll gladly write that down in permanent marker.
Spieth joins Charl Schwartzel, Herman Kaiser and Jimmy Demaret as the only players to win in their second Masters attempt.
He’s the 15th-youngest player ever to win a major and youngest since Woods in 1997.
Spieth joins Woods and Garcia as the only players since 1940 to win three times on TOUR before age 22.
Bubba Watson, T38, couldn’t join Nicklaus, Faldo and Woods as the only players to defend their titles.
Bernd Wieseberger, T22, was the best first-time finisher this year.
Spieth becomes the fifth, wire-to-wire (no ties) winner in history.
The last player to win three majors in a row is still Woods as McIlroy could only muster solo fourth this week. His career slam will have to wait another year!
Spieth becomes the most recent first-time major champ since Jason Dufner won the PGA in 2013. Last year, all four majors were won by previous champs.
Justin Rose was looking to become the first Euro to win at Augusta since 1999 (Jose-Maria Olazabal).
Spieth is the 13th champion from Texas and the first since Cren Benshaw in 1995.
Of the last 27 winners, Spieth (No. 4 OWGR) makes it 25 that have begun the week in the top 35 OWGR. He also makes it 21 of 27 inside the top 20. #trend
The Par Three champion, Kevin Streelman, had an excellent tournament, T12, but continues the trend of never winning.
Young Guns Versus Prime Time Versus Old Guys
I annually keep track of the age of the winners on TOUR because I’m an ageist. GET OFF MY VIAGRA.
Bae got the youngsters (under 30) on the board first in 2014-15 followed by Martin and Streb, both 27. Nick Taylor, 26, popped in to close out 2014 at SFC. Reed joined the party at a whopping 24 at HTOC followed by Koepka, 25 in Phoenix and Jason Day, 27, at Torrey Pines. Spieth, who turns 22 on 29 July, won at Valspar as well, keeps the youngsters in the spotlight with eight winners in 22 events this year.
Dustin Johnson (30), James Hahn (33), Brandt Snedeker (34), Bill Haas (32), Jimmy Walker TWICE (36), Charley Hoffman (37), Bubba Watson (36), Ryan Moore (31), Matt Every (31) and J.B. Holmes (32) are the prime time guys with silverware (30-39 years).
The old guys (40 and over) are all bowing down to Paddy Harrington and Alex Cejka as their representatives in victory lane. Mickelson gave another valiant attempt at Augusta with T2. That’s his 10th runner-up finish all-time in majors. That ties The King, Arnold Palmer for second all-time.
Hindsight
What I learned from the finishers in the top 12 this week.
It’s the top 12 THIS week because that’s who’s invited back next year if not already eligible.
Phil Mickelson: He played the par fives 15-under and finished in the top 10 (T2) for the 15th time in 23 events. He’s hit the podium in nine of those and this was his first T2/second. His last top 10 was solo second at last year’s PGA and this reinforces to gamers that he’s focusing on four events a year: the majors. Like McIlroy, Mickelson is also chasing the career grand slam and will need a win at Chambers Bay this June (U.S. Open) to add his name to history. Only problem is that Jordan Spieth has played the U.S. Am there and his caddy worked the course before joining up with Spieth full time. Moving forward I’ll evaluate Mickelson on a tournament-to-tournament basis but his recent results don’t require gamers to drop everything and add him to the lineup. It’s a seller’s market now.
Justin Rose: Form is temporary; class is permanent. Every major that is typed on these pages because frankly, it’s true. Rose was T24 or better in all of them last year and won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. Toss in he has never missed the weekend at Augusta and he made for a solid play this week if that was the angle in play. With three MCs and a T55/T37 in 2015 it wasn’t the easiest decision to make. His game perked up as like Spieth and Mickelson, he carded nothing worse than 70 for the week. Long-term investors will be thrilled that Rose was T2 GIR and T7 in fairways and racked up 24 birdies for the week so no smoke-and-mirrors there.
Rory McIlroy: Another year at Augusta, another angle of disaster that was avoided. McIlroy played his first 27 holes plus-three and went out in 40 on Friday. He was in tangible danger of not playing the weekend until he rattled off 31 to close up the back nine on Friday. He comfortably made the cut after 71-71 and that 31 was just a sign of things to come for the weekend. He threw away a great round with bogeys on Nos. 16 and 18 on Saturday to sign for 68 but rebounded with six birdies in his final 12 holes to wrap up solo fourth, his best here in six starts. His rally is the impressive part; his growth will see him eliminate the big scores on nine holes every now and again.
Hideki Matsuyama: Look, NOBODY questions his talent but sadly gamers are on the fence about his injured-not injured running narrative. When he plays, he’s almost automatic as he’s posted 25 of 29 rounds at par or better in 2015. His solo fifth is his best finish in a major and his best finish at Augusta. Not bad for a guy who shot 80 in two of his last three rounds at ANGC and whose best finish was T27 in 2011 as the Asian-Pacific amateur champ. In eight starts this season he's hit the top 10 four times and has two rounds over par in his last 16. His last five tournaments he’s closed 67-67-70-68-66. That’s legit.
Paul Casey: The Englishman now makes it four top 10s in his last six on TOUR with his T6 this week. He was looking to put pressure on Spieth but 74 on Saturday knocked him out of that conversation. He rallied for 68 to equal his best-ever finish at ANGC. That makes five top 20s in nine starts on this track. He has only five rounds over par in 2015 on TOUR.
Ian Poulter: His T6 gives him his first top 10 in a major since the 2013 Open Championship (T3) and his excellent ball-striking continues. Poulter led the field in GIR and his switch to Titleist is paying huge dividends. So is his knowledge at ANGC as he has now played the weekend in 10 of his 11 tries and cashes his third top 10 in his last six tries. He made the cut by one shot 73-72 but his 67-67 weekend vaulted him into higher clover.
Dustin Johnson: He was in the bottom 10 GIR this week and in the bottom 12 in fairways so believe it or not it was his putter who pushed him into the top 10 (T6) for his best ever finish. Now, stats don’t tell the entire story because he did have to hit SOME fairways and greens to rack up 18 birdies and three (!) eagles yet he did co-lead the field in putts with Steve Stricker. He only had one three putt but still found a way to make three doubles that essentially wiped out his three eagles. Experience is a key at Augusta but course history can’t be the ONLY factor. Johnson entered the week MC-T4-P2-MC-WIN-T6 so to say he was a no-brainer would be accurate. He’ll need starts managed in certain formats sooner than later.
Hunter Mahan: After back-to-back top 10s in 2009-10, Mahan has posted exactly two rounds under par over the next four years so his current form and course form were both doubts this week. Like Rose, he started well at SHO last week before fading on the weekend to T25. This week was his first top 10 (T9) since T3 to open the season at Frys.com and he did that opening with 75! Playing the final three rounds 11-under might be the kick-start his 2015 needed. He has two small kids under two years old so salary gamers are hoping he’s finding the balance between life and golf.
Zach Johnson: With nothing better than T20 after his 2007, ZJ wasn’t on my radar entering the week. He has struggled this season finding form with his putter and since he’s not the longest player on TOUR, that combo scared me to death. He’s played 11 of his last 12 rounds on TOUR at par or better and has T9-T20-T9 to show for it.
Charley Hoffman: With nothing better than T27 in his majors career, Hoffman found himself in the final pairing on Saturday with Spieth after firing nine-under in the first two rounds. After 10 birdies and an eagle in the first two rounds he found only five birdies on the weekend. His putter was on fire to start the week but leveled out to finish. On the back of T11-T11 entering the week he was a calculated flier that did exactly what gamers hoped he would (T9).
Rickie Fowler: After just making the cut by a shot Fowler used the weekend to try and keep his T5 or better streak going in majors. After eagle-birdie-par-birdie on Nos. 13-16, he was looking at the top 10. After a closing bogey he finished a respectable T12. His 70-67 weekend was strong and gamers who bought him with the majors in mind should be relieved he chased this down. His T12 equals his best 2015 finish but let’s see if he kicks on like he did at this time last year.
Bill Haas: With nothing better than T20 in five starts (all made cuts, by the way) and with only one round in the 60s, Haas didn’t capture my attention heading into the week. His 2015 has been all-or-nothing and this T12 fits that pattern nicely as he entered the week off MC at SHO. He’s now pegged it six times in a row at Augusta and played the weekend all six times. He’ll have my attention next year as a course horse at minimum.
Kevin Streelman: He made his first cut in try No. 3 last year and finished T42. After finishing solo second at Shriners he didn’t hit the top 25 in any full-field events in his 11 events before this week. To say this was a surprise would be an understatement. Bravo if he made your roster this week.
Ryan Moore: His excellent 66 on Friday saw him make the weekend no problem after opening with 74. His T12 finish is his best at Augusta thanks to 69 on Sunday. He's made the cut in seven of the last nine majors (all in a row) he's played. He's finished T12 at two of the last three majors but hasn't had a top 10 since the 2009 U.S. Open. Moore's excellent early 2015 continues as this is his fifth T22 or better in his last six events. That's music to gamer's ears.
Kevin Na: With three top 10s in his last four starts, Na’s finish this week isn’t hugely surprising. His other start was T20 at Valero but he closed 75-75 that week. His T12 this week matches his T12 in 2012 as his best finish in five starts at ANGC.
Chalk Dust
A quick recap of what happened to the Chalk from my preview column:
Bubba Watson: The defending champ was T38 after 73-74 weekend. He continues his “all-or-nothing” love affair with Augusta as his last five have produced T38-WIN-T50-WIN-T38. Just when gamers think they have a handle on Watson he zigs when we’ve expected a zag. I would have lost the bet that his worst finish of 2015 so far would have been at the Masters with NO RAIN.
Rory McIlroy: 4th, see above.
Jordan Spieth: WIN, see above.
Jason Day: It was disappointing to see that he couldn’t build on his opening round 67 because he was just three shots behind Spieth. His swing tweaked during the round on Friday and the Aussie never got it back on track as he finished 74-71-75 to finish T28. He couldn’t trust his swing and with the course set up not being tremendously difficult, the Aussie struggled. It’s always something with him. It’s almost like he needs everything perfect to be in contention. He’s a little hurt; his swing is a little off; the course isn’t hard enough. I get it but I don’t like it. If he’s looking for difficult setups that only fit his game, well, I’m not sure that is going to inspire confidence in weekly gamers. I’ve learned that taking the Aussie in the Masters the last two years has been a disaster due to injury and bad swing thoughts. Let me know when it’s perfect before I invest again. Sigh.
Jimmy Walker: We learned on Friday that he was getting treatment on a wrist issue after Thursday’s round. We also learned from his wife’s blog that his putter was ice cold. I watched him from beside No. 18 green snake in a 20-footer with two feet of break to post one-over but his 74-70 weekend couldn’t match his T8 from last year. Like Stenson, Walker had the flu the week leading into Augusta so that probably didn’t help either.
Dustin Johnson: T6, see above.
Matt Kuchar: I’m not sounding the alarm bells YET, but I’m concerned. Yeah, I know how many top 10s he has in his last 130 events. A SHIT TON. I also know that he hasn’t found one since Humana in January six events ago. He was DFL in GIR for the week and not even his T5 putting could save him. He didn’t break par in four rounds in a tournament where the winner was 19-under at one after 71 holes. If he doesn’t fire this week at HHI, I will sound the alarm.
Adam Scott: Not even a #CmonAussie pairing with mate Jason Day on Saturday could kick-start a comeback for the 2013 champ. He began the weekend three-under after 69 on Friday but not even ditching the standard putter for the broomstick could get him going. His T38 was his worst Masters finish in 14 tries when he’s played the weekend. Fantasy gamers are not thrilled with that!
Phil Mickelson: T2, see above.
Brandt Snedeker: He’ll add some more Augusta scar tissue this week as his run of four straight weekends crashed after 74-73 MC.
Paul Casey: T9, see above.
Lee Westwood: His T46 was his only finish in the last six outside the top 11. He entered the week with a very solid, yet non-winning majors record but couldn’t get it going on Sunday after 70 on Saturday.
Sergio Garcia: His three rounds under par saw him finish a very solid T17. He remarked via Twitter that he needed to play the par fives better next time. In his last four here he’s posted T12-T8-MC-T17.
J.B. Holmes: MC even though he holed an amazing chip on his final hole on Friday from off the green at No. 18. The winner at SHO over the last few years hasn’t been able to keep the success going unless named “Mahan” or “Mickelson”.
Henrik Stenson: Once I found out he was sickly leading up to this week I dropped him to the final spot in The Chalk. After making the cut on the number (+2) the Swede played the weekend 70-68 to finish T19. Imagine if he was healthy for ALL four rounds!
Coming TUESDAY Afternoon
I’ll publish my weekly preview, Range Rover, around lunchtime, children permitting. I’ll focus on history, current form, course characteristics, winning qualities and those who I think will and will not.
Coming TUESDAY Afternoon Pt. II
Playing the Tips will be up and running this and every Tuesday late afternoon and will list all of the Rotoworld experts picks in the GolfChannel.com game, the Yahoo! Fantasy Golf game, DFS plus the European Tour! Oh, and my One-and-Done feature. Look for it every Tuesday until the Presidents Cup.
Coming Wednesday
And the analysis doesn't end here. Rotoworld's Rob Bolton and I will be co-hosting a one-hour live chat Wednesday at NOON ET. We will be breaking down the field at RBC Heritage plus answering your questions. Simply return to the golf home page to join in on the chatter. Don’t forget to follow Rob (http://twitter.com/RobBoltonGolf) and Glass (http://twitter.com/mikeglasscott) on Twitter.
