Jordan Spieth fell back to earth a bit on Saturday at the 2015 Masters. After two brilliant rounds to start the tournament, the 21-year-old shot a two-under 70 in Round 3 to move to 16 under.
Spieth will head into the final round with a comfortable lead but one that isn't untouchable. He'll need to avoid making any major mistakes, because Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Charley Hoffman will be hot on his heels.
According to Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman, Spieth now owns the course record for lowest scores after 36 and 54 holes:
Last year's co-runner-up at the Masters began his tournament with an eight-under 64 on Thursday and a six-under 66 on Friday. ESPN's John Buccigross felt the heavy lifting was already done for Spieth and that everything was in place for him to capture his first major victory:
Spieth talked about his mindset heading into Saturday's play, per Christine Brennan of USA Today:
I got off to a great start and had a chance to win last year on Sunday. I'd like to have that same opportunity this year. Again, this is only the halfway point and I'm aware of that. I'm not going to get ahead of myself and I'm going to try and stay in the moment and very patient these last two days and understand it's going to feel like a whole 'nother tournament.
Spieth started his day off strong with a birdie on No. 2. He then had two bogeys and two birdies over the final six holes of the front nine to sit at one under for the round.
The 12th hole is regarded as one of the toughest at Augusta. The difficult par three doesn't leave much room for error. When Spieth birdied 12, that's when people threw their hands up in disbelief.
Tilghman felt that perhaps youth does have its advantages:
Spieth then birdied the 13th hole and bogeyed the 14th. It was his third bogey of the round, which was two more than he posted over the first two rounds altogether, per ESPN Stats & Info:
That birdie on 12 was the start of a five-hole stretch in which Spieth gained three strokes and moved to an unbelievable 18-under for the tournament. A double-bogey on No. 17 denied him the chance to make history, but who's going to complain about holding a four-stroke lead going into the final round of the Masters?
Spieth would then finish the round with a fantastic putt on No. 18. Golf Digest had this thoughts on how good the putt was:
Golf writer Shane Bacon felt there was almost a sense of futility from watching the rest of the competition try to keep up with Spieth. Every time a golfer seemed to be making up ground on the leader, one look at the leaderboard revealed something different:
Jay Busbee of Yahoo Sports posted a visualization of Saturday's play:
Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel alluded to how Augusta attempted to "Tiger-proof" the course in the past to make it more difficult for Tiger Woods to win. He wonders what the course organizers might have in store to slow down Spieth in the future:
Some fans might feel that the one-sided nature of the tournament somewhat detracts from the spectacle. ESPN's Jim Trotter isn't one of those fans:
Spieth's dominance through three rounds isn't unprecedented. Golf Channel's Ryan Burr noted that Greg Norman held the lead after each of the first three days in 1996:
The final round ended in ignominy for Norman as he had a collapse of epic proportions, coughing up what was a six-stroke lead to start the day. Nick Faldo won rather comfortably instead.
You don't get the feeling a similar catastrophe is in store for Spieth. He has looked wise beyond his years at Augusta since making his debut last year, and if he can vie for a Masters title in 2014, surely he can hold a lead on the final day in 2015.
Should Spieth prevail, it could be one of those moments fans go back to as the beginning of something special, similar to Woods' 1997 Masters victory.
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