Masters Recap
By Dan Daly
VegasInsider.com
In the words of the legendary sportscaster Champ Kind…WHAMMY!
Look, I could tell you that I called Spieth winning the 2015 Masters in my 2014 Masters recap a year ago. I could tell you that I called Spieth winning the Masters again in my 2015 preview back in February. Or I could tell you that I begged you to bet on him last week in Masters Preview. But in honor of Jordan and his unbelievable humility I will refrain.
What I didn’t know was how he was going to win the 2015 Masters.
Most Birdies ever made in a single Masters…check
Lowest 36-hole score in Masters history…check.
Lowest 54-hole score in Masters history…check.
Tied for lowest 72-hole score in Masters history…check.
First wire-to-wire Masters winner since 1976…check.
In other words…total world domination!
He has now played eight competitive rounds at the Masters, lead or co-lead after five of them, never been outside the top five after any of them, broken par in seven of them and shot even par the eighth. With a win and a second. And he’s 21. Is that any good?
Most amazing stat I heard this week that may only be interesting to me. Spieth became only the third player in the history of the Masters to win with a double bogey on his card during the week.
I know it wasn’t the most exciting Masters ever played, far from it, but it was certainly entertaining. I’m guessing the Saturday ratings will be some of their best in years and Sunday will definitely be up from last year as well. If you can watch that tournament and not appreciate what Jordan did this week then you probably shouldn’t watch golf. That was an absolute masterpiece by Spieth.
More so, if you can’t appreciate and get behind Jordan the person, then I can’t help you. Rooting against Tiger…I get. Rooting against Phil…I get. Rooting against Rory…I can’t say I really get that, but ok. Rooting against Bubba…lord knows I get that. But to not root for, or at least respect everything about Jordan Spieth is so far beyond me I can’t comprehend it.
The guy, above being an absolutely unbelievable talent at 21-years-old, is humble, sincere, grounded, respectful, genuine, classy and one of the nicest people to ever play the game…and did I mention he is still 21?! He’s also got some serious stones on him. The up and down on 18 Saturday and the second shot he hit into 13 Sunday were about as clutch as you will ever see at Augusta.
He is by all definitions a boy scout with a short game that would make Seve proud. He isn’t the polarizing figure Tiger, Phil and even Rory are, but I think that’s a good thing. The guy is dating a Tri-Delt at Texas Tech for god’s sake.
Oh, and did I mention he’s pretty frickin’ good at golf. He is now the number two ranked player in the world, has won two of his last four starts and finished second in the other two starts. My daughter is 4-weeks-old and has never seen Jordan Spieth finish worse than second in a golf tournament.
In fact, I’m pretty sure he will never lose another tournament again the rest of his life. By my calculations Jordan will win the career Grand Slam at Whistling Straits in August, pass Tiger with 15 majors at the 2018 British Open and pass “Mr. Nicklaus” with 19 majors at the 2019 British Open.
Oh and with Spieth’s win on Sunday, the state of Texas now takes the lead in Green Jacket’s with 13.
As for the guys that didn’t win.
Broke my heart to see Bubba be a non-factor this week. According to an ESPN poll released Monday of 103 PGA Players, Bubba Watson was voted as the least liked pro on Tour with 22%. The only reason that surprised me was that it was ONLY 22%. Yet it was twice as high as the next player on the list (Patrick Reed with 11%). The guy just sucks as a person, it’s that simple.
This tweet from @nolayingup summed it up best, “The passing of the green jacket from Bubba Watson to Jordan Spieth is like a brutal fascist dictator getting overthrown.”
I said it last year and again at the beginning of this year, when Rory is “on” he is as good as anyone in the history of the game. The problem with Rory was, is and will always be that he just isn’t nearly as consistent as the all-time greats. He misses too many cuts and has too many bad stretches during tournaments to ever approach Jack’s record. Yes, he had an incredible two month run last summer, but leading up to that run he hadn’t won anything in almost 18 months, nor has he played well since. He will win more majors (including a Masters) before it’s all said and done, but 19, 18…or even 15…no. And yes, I’m aware he is the #1 player in the world, my point is simply in relation to the all-time debate and being in THAT discussion.
This week was no different. I said last week about Rory, “A back door top 10, sure, the green jacket come Sunday…not so much.” Sure enough, he started +3 through 27 holes when everyone else is going low and played the last 45 holes 15-under to finish 4th.
One side note on Rory… apparently Rory doesn’t fully understand the term getting “Boy Band Ass.” Niall Horan of the boy band One Direction caddied for McIlroy during the Par 3 contest. I like Rory, but I can’t take you seriously if you are going to do stuff like that.
I would have been shocked to see Phil win this week but wasn’t surprised at all to see him play well and even contend. The guy just lights up when he steps on the ground at ANGC. It’s pretty impressive actually. Quite frankly, it was a horrible break for Phil, and subsequently a great break for Spieth, when Rose birdied the 18th Saturday to knock Phil out of the final group. I still think Jordan wins either way but I think Phil feeds off of momentum there more than anyone else and playing with Hoffman on Sunday just sucked the life out of him and left Spieth with a much more comfortable pairing on Sunday. I have to hand it to Phil though, this is very well played on his part (and compliments to my wife who actually sent this to me).
Justin Rose is turning into a poor man’s Angel Cabrera…only showing up when it matters most. And quite frankly I can appreciate that.
Rickie Fowler at some point sooner than later is going to put all four rounds together in a major and actually win one. If for some reason Spieth doesn’t win every tournament going forward I still think it will come in June at the US Open unless something changes between now and then...like Spieth actually winning every week until then.
Dustin Johnson made three eagles on Friday…that’s just silly. Again, barring the above regarding Spieth, I still like him to win the PGA at Whistling Straits in August.
You can classify Tiger’s week one of 10 different ways. Personally, I thought Tiger looked like a guy who hasn't played in a while instead of a guy who can't play. He definitely looked rusty on Thursday and pressed way too hard on Sunday, but all in all, I think a top-20 for him at this point has to count as progress. I know that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things but it’s not like the guy was going to show up this week and win. And compared to what we have seen from him the last 18 months I have to say it was nice to see him actually finish all 72 holes. His short game was as sharp as I’ve ever seen it, his irons were solid and the putter held up for most of the tournament. The driver on the other hand…not so much. Who knows when he will play again, or how he will play when he does, but if he can improve that much in 60 days I still think he may shock the world at St. Andrews in July.
Congratulations to Ben Crane on hitting the worst shot in the history of the Masters. He not only hit it into Rae’s Creek on 12…he one hopped in there. That’s impressive.
As for the other winner of the Masters. Well, that would of course be JD holding court down the street at Hooters.
Finally, congratulations to Tyler Lane, an Augusta resident, who named his daughter Magnolia "Maggie" Lane. #fatheroftheyear