Nobody has ever won the Masters with a triple bogey on their scorecard. Jordan Spieth is trying to do it with a quad.
After making 9 on the 15th hole in Thursday’s first round en route to his worst career round at the Masters, Spieth rallied Friday to shoot 69. He’s tied for 10th at even par with fellow Masters winners Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson.
“I’m very pleased with the second round of this Masters and we’re in a position now where we, I think, can go out there and win this thing and certainly make a run,” said Spieth, who is paired with Mickelson for the third round.
PHOTOS: Round Two Action in Augusta
Spieth had slipped to 4-over for the tournament with bogeys on Nos. 2 and 4 wrapped around a birdie at 3, but he birdied 8, 13, 16 and 18 to put himself right back in the mix just four shots behind the lead foursome. He consulted a rules official on the No. 13 green to determine that his ball oscillated and didn’t move, maintaining his momentum.
Had Spieth hit the proper club on the 15th hole Thursday, he could have at least a share of the lead at the halfway point for the third consecutive year.
“If I just hit a stock wedge like I normally do in there, I’m four shots better,” he said, adding that a poor club choice is worse than a bad shot.
“I’m over it, but even being at even par now and with the finish we had, part of me is thinking, ‘What if we had those four strokes back, you know?’” he said. “It’s not the way necessarily to think and it won’t affect me when I’m playing this weekend, because it is what it is. But it’s harder when it’s a decision versus an execution.”
Spieth made putts of 26 and 13 feet for his last two birdies of the day to boost his confidence.
“After yesterday I was really disappointed in being 10 shots off the lead,” he said. “But those last couple putts, I had confidence in them, put really nice strokes on them and I finally got them to go. It took awhile today. I hit all nine greens on the back nine and had three birdies and one of them was a two-putt.”