Jordan Spieth Was Unbothered By an Unexpected Distraction

Spieth made a messy bogey on the 15th hole, but downplayed a distraction afterward. Plus, more on Rory McIlroy and the numbers that stood out after Round 1.

Jordan Spieth shot an even-par 72 on Thursday at Augusta. | Michael Madrid-Imagn Images

AUGUSTA — As a bright sun began to descend over the loblolly pines at Augusta National on Thursday, Jordan Spieth lined up a birdie putt straight across the 15th green. He was 1-under par, four back, right in it, and fully into it.

As Spieth crouched to line up his tricky 29-footer, his eyeline met the 16th tee box, about 30-or-so yards beyond the edge of the green. A forecaddie was working to prep the grounds for his group’s arrival, but his movement, in his bright white jumpsuit, caught Spieth’s eye. Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, glared across at the forecaddie for a long moment, hands on hips. Finally, Greller had seen enough and broke the silence.

“Hey, buddy, in the white, you gotta stop moving!”

Since there was no rock to crawl under, the forecaddie quickly exited the tee and hid behind the grandstand. Spieth left his lag putt 4 feet short and then blew the par-saver. Bogey. Moments later, Greller gave the forecaddie an earful when he arrived at the tee. Spieth was back to even par and seemed to be teetering.

But then as things often go for Spieth, and for Spieth at Augusta in particular, he found a way to get home. He parred his way in, including an adventurous 4 on 18 after hitting his drive into the trees. That par left him with a spring in his step as he left the green. He said afterward he wasn’t particularly distracted by anything that happened on 15.

“It was like—I'm not really bothered by much. I don't really care normally about people. I care about like wind and stuff like that. I don't really care about people or noise,” he said. “But it was like right when I'm looking up. I was just seeing white (jumpsuit) just move.

“Normally, I would be like, hey, Mikey (Greller) and then he normally says it and it's not an issue. He didn't hear him. No big deal. Still got into it and when I hit the putt, I thought I hit the putt I wanted. Hit a bad second putt, but no, it wasn't—it was just—that happens every week, something like that.”

Another thing that seems to happen to Spieth just about every week is an on-course adventure, and he had one more on 18, where he drove it into the pines on the left of the fairway that few players typically find. He called for a referee to make sure he didn’t risk a penalty for moving any surrounding branches, punched out and got up and down from 171 yards to save par. He signed for 72, and rolled off the course feeling pretty good.

“Frankly, I don't know how many people in the world make a four from that tee ball,” he said. “So that was—I'm walking off with a smile on my face. I'm happier than you walk off bogeying to shoot 1 under, and I would've been more upset that I make par to shoot even, and it's funny how the game works, right?”

He has a point, and he’s five shots back as he chases a second green jacket.

A few Masters Round 1 numbers

2: Patrick Reed became the second player in Masters history to make two eagles over his first nine holes of one Masters. Henrik Stenson also did it in 2012.

7: Rory McIlroy is the seventh defending champion to lead or co-lead a Masters after the first round.

5: Number of strokes over par that Bryson DeChambeau has played the par-4 11th hole in his last two rounds. DeChambeau made a triple-bogey 7 on Thursday, and in last year’s final round, playing alongside McIlroy, he doubled the 11th.

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