54 holes in and Jordan Spieth is sitting at T23. He had an excellent round with a 3-under par 69 to finish at -1 overall. Spieth has hit some outstanding strokes over the three days. The Eagle on White Dogwood from the bunker will definitely be the highlight of the tournament for him. At times, it seemed that he would struggle to make the weekend. But Spieth persisted and, through his exceptional game, went 36 holes and beyond.
Off the playing field, the 31-year-old sat down for a Press Conference to discuss everything that happened on the day. That’s when a reporter asked him, “Did you like the way you played today?” A very simple question, but it led to a critical remark. Spieth replied, “Yeah. Yeah. It was a bit better. My iron play killed me the last two days, and to be brutally honest with you, it was primarily mud balls. It’s just so frustrating because you can’t talk about them here. You’re not supposed to talk about them. Mud balls can affect this tournament significantly, especially when you get them a lot on 11 and 13. They’re just daggers on those two holes.” Seems that the 3x major winner was quite bothered by the mud balls at Augusta National.
Sharing further information about the situation, Spieth added, “They’ve done a better job — there’s like less than normal, but I still had them today on those holes, too. I had them yesterday on those holes. It’s something to pay attention to for sure for leader groups because you just have to play so far away from trouble or lay up when you’d normally go for it, just random stuff because it will affect it significantly. And if you’re on the wrong side of the hole you’re either in the water or you almost can’t make par depending on what hole it is.” It’s hard to imagine how much more difficult it would be to take on Augusta National with a ball that’s weighed down with mud. While the course officials are trying to manage it better, it still caused a lot of tears for the likes of Jordan Spieth.
Questioning the mudball situation, one of the reporters asked if the rainfall on Thursday night led to this issue. To that, Spieth replied, “Yeah. Yeah. I was actually really surprised on Tuesday how — but I’m expecting it a lot out here. Look, it’s mowed into the grain. The ball is digging in on every shot. A lot of times you have it on 75 percent of your drives. But it’s definitely getting better, but it’s like the keyholes, when they pitch into — even on 8, it’ll pitch into, even though it’s a downhill shot.” Digging the ball out of the rough is already a challenging task. Having the ball dug into the mud might be even more dreadful for the players.
Speaking about how his peers can avoid getting a lot of mud on the ball, Spieth advised, “The lower you hit it, the less chance. But, every person is having to deal with it.” Less flight means the ball will not come down on the surface with force, which will lower the chances of it catching a lot of mud. However, that is not what is frustrating the PGA Tour. He said, “The fact that you’re not supposed to talk about it is a bit frustrating because it is a difference-maker. It can be a difference maker in scores on some holes.” For anyone who isn’t aware, Augusta National has an unwritten rule that discourages everyone from speaking about the mudballs on the course.
Golf – The Masters – Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia, U.S. – April 11, 2024 Jordan Spieth of the U.S. on the 2nd hole during the first round REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
Mudballs or not, even Jordan Spieth knows that things are heating up at Augusta National. He even talked about how, despite the issue, the action towards the back end of the round is going to be quite exciting. Let’s see what else Spieth had to say in the press conference.
Jordan Spieth is looking forward to the remaining round 3 action
While still frustrated about the conditions at Augusta National, Jordan Spieth was also eager to see what happens through the rest of the day. He said, “Today the wind is supposed to switch, turn around to what it was yesterday, so it could get really interesting around Amen Corner there because that’s a turn from off the right to in off the right, and that change is pretty significant on second shots on 11 and 12. That will be kind of exciting to see, but it’s not supposed to get up a ton.” With mudball still coming into play, Spieth believes the windy conditions would affect the top of the leaderboard. It will be exciting to see how Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, and Justin Rose perform on the White Dogwood, Golden Bell, and Azalea.
In fact, the Texan also thinks that there will be a bigger deficit between him and the leaders once the round is completed. He added, “I think the lead will go further up. I don’t think it’s coming back based on the conditions today.” Considering how McIlroy and DeChambeau have started this round, we can see what Spieth was talking about.
What do you think about the mudball issue at Augusta National? Do you think it should be brought into the conversation more often as per Jordan Spieth’s suggestion? Let us know in the comments section.
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