The 2015 Masters champion, Jordan Spieth, is playing in his 13th Masters this week. At just 21, he won his first Green Jacket. However, the collapse of 2016 is something that has never left his mind.

Spieth was on his way to winning back-to-back Masters titles in 2016. But his lead vanished at Rae's Creek. Reflecting on his infamous loss, Spieth said, "As often as I think of losses, wins, anything, yeah, it's up there with memorable tournaments for me, good and bad.”

Spieth had a five-shot lead with nine holes to play. He bogeyed holes 10 and 11 before heading to the famous 12th tee. Amen Corner decided his fate. Two back-to-back shots into Rae's Creek wiped out his lead.

“Yeah, not much. I was super resilient. I remember that from there. You want to play it left of the hole. I hit a bad shot on 12, but I bogeyed 10 and 11. I had super good control on 10 and just missed them right three holes in a row.”

Spieth ended up becoming the first player in Masters history to give away such a large lead. Danny Willett went on to secure the Green Jacket that year. However, Spieth took valuable lessons from that loss.

Spieth said that based on his experiences in 2016, 2018, and other Sunday runs, those holes can be turned into scoring opportunities to make up significant ground on the field.

Spieth sits further down the leaderboard at one-over and faces an uphill battle heading into the later rounds.

Spieth’s Start at the Masters

“Three was my goal. I wanted to be 3-under on 18 fairway. So not technically, but I was off to the right start. And then from where I was on my third shot on 13 until I went to 16 tee, certainly expecting to be a couple shots better, if not three shots better.”

Spieth was five strokes behind early leaders Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns after Round 1 at the Masters. He couldn’t reach his ideal start because of some "untimely drives."

Spieth emphasized the importance of precise drives on the seventh and fourteenth holes.

He explained that drives hit too far right on those holes made it nearly impossible to hit the green in regulation.

Coming off a wrist injury that began in 2023 and affected his rhythm through 2024, Spieth will look to make no excuses in his 13th Masters appearance and aim to move past his 2016 collapse.

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Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav