Sunday at The Masters is as special as it gets in golf. Third round leader Jordan Spieth called The Masters “the greatest week in our sport” and two time champion Bubba Watson called Augusta America’s “home of golf.” Well the folks at Pinehurst may disagree with Bubba but few will challenge Jordan on his point.
This is the best week of the year in professional golf and Sunday at Augusta is as good as it gets.
Spieth sounded comfortable going into today despite a few blips in his game on Sunday. He’s dealing from a position of strength with the four stroke lead he has carved out over the last three rounds.
The odds may be with Spieth as 20 of the last 24 Masters Champions have come from the last group. Spieth is paired with former U.S. Open Champ Justin Rose and he, like Spieth is hoping to make it 21 of 25.
There are plenty of interesting pairings but most of the fireworks should come from the last three twosomes.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy tee off at 2:30 and this will be an interesting matchup. They are both at six under and ten shots off the lead so their chance of winning is slim, very slim at best but the two of them playing together is intriguing.
Rory occupies Tiger’s former spot as the best player in the world and while the two have a solid relationship, champions of their stature are competitive as hell. With Nike’s new ad featuring Rory and Tiger this is another chapter in their story. Rory has one hand on the torch but Tiger isn’t letting go of it.
Phil Mickelson and Charley Hoffman start at 2:40. Phil carded a five under 67 on Saturday to move him up the leaderboard and into the conversation. Charley stumbled a bit having carded rounds of 67 and 68 in the first two rounds but his 71 dropped him out of second place and into fourth.
Realistically, this is the only pairing that has a chance at catching Spieth. Hoffman is six back and Mickelson is five back and they will need help from Spieth if they expect a shot at the green jacket. Phil’s ability to make the crowd rock the hills of Augusta may be the weapon he needs to rattle Spieth.
Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose will tee it up at 2:40 and Rose has to feel confident with the finish he had on Saturday. He birdied five of the last six holes for a closing 31. Spieth on the other hand struggled on the back nine with a bogey and his first double of the tournament. But then he did have four birdies so struggle is a relative term.
This is the second straight year that Spieth is in the final group at The Masters . He actually had the lead but stumbled and Bubba Watson won his second green jacket. Spieth insists that he has learned from last year and will be in better control of his emotions this time.
If Rose can pick up where he left off and make some birdies early Spieth will need to stay the course to avoid losing his lead.
I think Spieth had his bad round on Saturday. Four strokes isn’t insurmountable but this week I think Spieth is right. This is the greatest week in golf. And it will end with Spieth donning a new green jacket.
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