From Co-Lead to Going Home: Jordan Spieth Misses Cut in Stunning Fashion at Sony Open
HONOLULU – “Hey buddy.”
That was Jordan Spieth’s greeting to his young son Sammy.
After a quick kiss from Spieth’s wife, Annie, Spieth snatched his young son, not yet a year old, from his mother’s arms and carried him into the scoring trailer to finalize the carnage that was a second-round 5-over 75.
It was 11 shots worse than Spieth’s first-round 65, when he shared the lead with Chris Kirk and rookie Taylor Montgomery. Sammy Spieth, and to some extent his father, were a bit oblivious to the proceedings.
“Just a bad day. Didn't feel like it was much different, felt like I was on a really bad deck of cards today,” Spieth said after returning his son to his mother. “Made a couple of bad swings off the tee. But other than that, I didn't play that different and I just ended up a foot into the rough here right behind the tree here. It was a weird, weird day.”
As good as the Spieth machine was working on Thursday, it was that bad on Friday.
The statistical differences are astounding:
Strokes gained off the tee:
Thursday: 1.211 (Ranked 15th)
Friday: -1.296 (Ranked 126th)
Strokes gained approaches:
Thursday: 0.526 (56th)
Friday: -1.369 (116th)
Strokes gained around the green:
Thursday: 0.234 (59th)
Friday: -1.758 (139th)
Strokes gained putting:
Thursday: 3.494 (6th)
Friday: -1.404 (115th)
Strokes gained scoring:
Thursday: 5.564 (1st)
Friday: -5.820 (143rd)
“This sucks. I mean, I've never led a tournament and missed a cut before,” Spieth said. “I wouldn't have replayed anything. I made a bad swing, (but) I didn't really make any bad decisions.”
Spieth could go chapter and verse on the odd places he found himself: behind a tree or on the edge of a bunker with an awkward stance. His drive hit the cart path and bounded into the water on No. 9. He had a weird bunker lie on No. 10.
Spieth will return home before making his return to the PGA Tour at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He will have plenty of time to shake off this Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Players since 2011 that led or co-led after the first round and missed the cut:
Matt Every, 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational (shared lead)
Vaughn Taylor, 2018 FedEx St. Jude Championship (shared lead)
Zecheng Dou and Xinjun Zhang, 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans (shared lead, team event)
Andrew Loupe, 2016 Travelers Championship (shared lead)
Keegan Bradley, 2016 Valspar Championship (shared lead)
Danny Lee, 2014 Valspar Championship (shared lead)
Camilo Villegas, 2013 Honda Classic (outright lead)
Jim Renner, 2011 Travelers Championship (outright lead)
Ben Martin, 2011 Genesis Invitational (shared lead)