Augusta, GA—In 1985, carbonated soft drink called Jolt was created to give people an extra amount of caffeine to serve as a stimulant. For Jordan Spieth, the 22-year-old defending champion -- just being back at Augusta National -- was enough of a jolt for the Texan to take early command of this year’s Masters with a stellar no-bogey six-under-par round of 66.
Spieth has played in just three Masters -- a total of 13 rounds -- none has been over par thus far. Over the last five rounds of play -- the four from 2015 and the first round this year -- there’s been constant -- Spieth has placed himself at the top of the heap. Like 2015 when he seized the first day lead and never relinquished it -- Spieth came out of the gates ready to play amidst pesky swirling winds that proved vexing to many other competitors. World number one and pre-tourney favorite Jason Day cruised to his best front nine at Augusta -- going out in 31. Day limped home strokes higher on the inward half and finished even par-72. Rory McIlroy, the 3rd ranked player on the planet seemed to be ready to be nipping at the heels of Spieth most especially after eagling the par-5 13th -- but the Northern Irishman bogied two of the last three holes and finished at two-under-par 70. Certainly not a bad round but held against Jordan’s jolt from the pack everyone else looked like they were walking in slow motion.
Coming into this year’s first major event of the year -- there were question marks for Spieth. After winning the first event in 2016 in convincing fashion in Hawaii -- Spieth then jetted to distant global locations and his game simply ran out of gas. For some critics -- the sheer demands on his time in heading to distant locations made many wonder if too much energy was being wasted with so many big events to be played. But Spieth showed a good bit of life in finishing strong at last week’s Houston Open and giving him a good bit of confidence that his peak play was ready to blossom at Augusta National this week.
