Tiger Woods might be the youngest golfer to ever win the Masters, but this weekend Jordan Spieth will have the opportunity to become the youngest to win the tournament in consecutive years. The PGA Tour star impressed with a wire-to-wire victory in 2015 and hopes to pick up where he left off.
Spieth, 22, hasn't perhaps performed to his high standard thus far into the 2016 PGA Tour season, but he's doing just fine after his first eight events. He has one win, a fourth-place finish, a seventh-place finish, five finishes between 13th and 21st place, and one missed cut.
But the Masters always provides a different narrative. The top players always come out and bring their A game, as we saw with Tiger Woods last year when he finished tied for 17th despite injuries and terrible play in previous events. While Spieth had much more momentum coming into the season's first major event last year (one win and two second-place finishes in the three tournaments prior), that probably won't matter this time around considering the Augusta National plays to his strengths (accuracy with irons, tight short game and lights-out putting).
And he also knows the course inside and out.
"Fortunately, this golf course, I feel like I have such a knowledge of this golf course that I'm always playing to a certain spot," he said today during a session with the media. "Maybe away from pins, that even if I want to make that kind of [aggressive] move, I won't."
If you need more proof of how Augusta National fits his game so well, click here.
Let's also not forget that Spieth finished tied for second in the event back in 2014 after falling to Bubba Watson in the final round.
Additionally, if you look closely into his statistics this season, he's doing just fine. The 22-year-old, although he lost his No. 1 world ranking to Jason Day in March, is still eighth in total strokes gained (1.733), fourth in birdie average (4.65) and tenth in scoring average (70.055).
His putter isn't at its strongest right now, but all it takes is one course where he's comfortable to awaken its utmost effectiveness.
The Masters should be a good venue for that, and Spieth has a penchant for succeeding at high-stakes events, so don't overlook the youngster just because he's not as hot coming into the tournament as he was last year.
