The Loop
Masters ‘played on Jordan Spieth’s terms, to his soundtrack of hollering fans’
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It is now Jordan Spieth’s Augusta National, columnist Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports writes. “This is Jordan Spieth's third Masters but he's already its biggest attraction, the fan favorite and such a dominating player that once again the event is being played on his terms, to his soundtrack of hollering fans. At just 22, Spieth has turned Augusta National into his personal playground, throwing up low numbers on the scoreboards and drawing throngs to a level approaching the heyday of Tiger Woods.”
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“Why do these tiny little shots, ones children love hitting even around windmills and through clowns’ mouths, bring down the greatest players of the sport?” Joe Posnanski of Golf Channel writes in this story on the yips and Ernie Els’ problems with them. “It’s one of the great mysteries of the game. The only thing that isn’t mysterious at all is how painful it is to watch great players suffer. Thursday, we watched four-time major champion Ernie Els suffer like no great golfer ever had.”
Amateur Bryson DeChambeau shot an even-par 72 while in his first Masters round, while playing with Jordan Spieth. “Watch out for him. In all honesty, it was really impressive watching his game,” Spieth said in this story by Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post. “I’ve played with him many times now, and to see it come to kind of be as sharp as I’ve seen it and still ‑‑ I felt like, he was a bit off on the greens and still was able to shoot even par. That’s really, really impressive in your first round here.”
Augusta National took its measure of some of the best players in the game on Thursday, Jason Sobel of ESPN writes. “Look a little deeper…and you'll find that most of the world's top players left the hallowed grounds with some bruised and battered egos…If you're scoring at home -- an idea which would entail some heavy-duty addition -- that's six of the world's top 10 players who struggled mightily during the opening round, especially on the course's second nine holes. ‘Golf's not an easy game,’ proclaimed [Rickie] Fowler, who was presumably also speaking for his talent-laden brethren.”