Masters: Big names put pressure on Spieth in final round (+ video)
History might thank Jordan Spieth’s collar for tightening in the final hour of the Masters’ third round Saturday evening.
The 21-year-old Texan finally looked like a newcomer on this stage, missing a 2-foot putt and a 3-foot putt on the final four holes to give the rest of the field hope heading into Sunday’s final round. And the rest of the field deserved it the way they played Saturday.
The seven players behind Spieth on the leader board – a group that includes some of the game’s biggest names – shot a combined 23-under in the third round.
Spieth shot a 2-under 70 to set the tournament’s 54-hole record at 200. He is 16-under par and will play Sunday’s final round with Justin Rose, who was 5-under in Saturday’s final six holes to get to 12-under for the tournament.
Five shots back of Spieth is Phil Mickelson, who shot a 5-under 67 Saturday.
Ten shots back are Tiger Woods (68), Rory McIlroy (68) and Dustin Johnson (73).
“I don’t think it matters who is close to him,” Mickelson said. “I think he’s playing very good golf, and I think he’ll have a good round tomorrow. He would just be a great champion. He’s just a classy guy. He just represents the game very well and at a very young age, and he’s just got a lot of game. So, if he were to come out on top, it would be wonderful for the tournament, wonderful for the game. I’m going to try to stop him, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Spieth isn’t ready to be fitted for the green jacket yet. He does think it makes a difference that Mickelson, a three-time Masters winner and favorite at Augusta National will be in the group ahead of his.
“Phil is going to have a lot of roars,” Spieth said. “Obviously, a few groups up is Tiger and Rory. Well, you’re going to hear something there, but especially in the group in front of us, everyone loves Phil. Why wouldn’t you love Phil? And he’s going to make some noise, and he’s going to make a run.”
Spieth is going to try to tune all that out and give himself short putts for pars, he said.
“It’s not like Saturday versus Sunday should make any difference to me,” he said. “I can’t rely on the putter to save me with two major champions right behind. They are going to bring their game, and I’ve got to have a relatively stress-free round going; and when I say that, I mean give myself some tap-in pars and not have to make so many putts.”
Spieth played in the final round of last year’s Masters, finishing tied for second in his only other Augusta appearance. The last time a player entered the final round with a lead as big as his four shots was in 2011, when Rory McIlroy was four shots out front after three rounds. McIlroy, who the same age as Spieth is now, shot an 80 and finished tied for 15th the next day.
“He’s played in the final group at the Masters before,” McIlroy said. “It didn’t quite happen for him last year, but I think he’ll have learned from that experience. I think all that put together, he’ll definitely handle it a lot better than I did.”
The rest of the field plans to be ready if he doesn’t.
“I really need to make a lot of birdies,” Johnson said. Spieth “is playing really well. I think I’m a little too far back, but you never know.”
This story was originally published April 11, 2015 at 9:27 PM with the headline "Masters: Big names put pressure on Spieth in final round (+ video)."