Jordan Spieth took much more than redemption and a green jacket. The 21-year-old prodigy entered the Olympus of Augusta winners with a victory to remember.
A year after he missed the opportunity to become the youngest player to win the Masters, the Texan completed one of the most overwhelming performances ever seen on the Augusta National course.
The closest anyone could come to him was three strokes after starting the tournament at full steam. He didn’t allow anyone to get their hopes up for a comeback on Sunday.
Spieth carded a 70, 2 under par, on Sunday. He missed a putt for par on the last hole that would have allowed him to set another record. Instead, he tied with Tiger Woods with a cumulative 270, 18 under par.
After all the talk in the run-up to Rory McIlroy’s quest to round off a Grand Slam and the return of Woods, this week saw the emergence of a new star.
“It’s tremendously impressive,” McIlroy said after finishing fourth. “It’s a joy to be able to start adding titles in major tournaments at such a young age in your career. It’s good to be able to witness it, great for golf, and I think there’s a lot more to come.”
Spieth became the first Masters champion to lead from start to finish since Raymond Floyd in 1976, and could have broken the record had he not bogeyed the final hole. Craig Woods in 1941 is the other Masters champion to take a three-shot lead in the first round into the awards ceremony.
Phil Mickelson tried to hunt him down. Justin Rose did the same. They could only get within three strokes, and Spieth always knew how to react.
Mickelson (69) and Rose (70) shared second place. It was the 10th time Mickelson finished as runner-up in a major.
Woods hurt his right wrist when he hit a tree root on the ninth hole and closed with a round of 73 for a total of -13, tied with Sergio Garcia in seventeenth place.
Spieth won his third PGA Tour title at Augusta and his fifth in the world, moving him up to second place in the world ranking, although he is still a long way behind McIlroy in points.
The champion’s dream
“I don’t even know how I feel,” Spieth said after his victory. “Being here has always been a lifelong dream of mine. I’ve seen this ceremony many times on television and always wished I could be here someday. Last year it was tough because I had to watch it after coming so close to winning the tournament, but this year I made it,” he added.
Spieth said that the Masters is just another step in his career and that his dream has always been to reach the world lead. After his win at Augusta, he is second in the world rankings behind McIlroy. “My goal has always been to be No. 1 in the world. McIlroy has four Majors, which is something I can only dream of at the moment, but I aspire to be able to catch him one day,” he replied when asked what can be expected of him in the future.
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