Jordan Spieth looks for strong play in Houston to propel him to Masters
HOUSTON (AP) – Jordan Spieth is so excited about
returning to Augusta National next week to defend his Masters
championship that just thinking about it makes him feel like doing
pushups.
First things first. Spieth believes a strong showing in the Shell
Houston Open, which starts Thursday, could have a significant impact on
how well he plays in this season's first major championship. It
certainly did last year.
"A win here would obviously be the goal, to get as much momentum as
possible," he said. "I drew a lot on this week last year. It certainly
kept the momentum alive (and led to) coming out on top."
Spieth had a playoff victory and a runner-up finish before Houston a
year ago, then took the 54-hole lead here last spring before losing in a
three-way playoff, in which he secured a spot by sinking a nearly
12-foot putt on the final hole, calling it "a nice putt to have hit
going into a major."
Although he didn't win – J. B. Holmes prevailed over Spieth and Johnson
Wagner – he took plenty of confidence with him to Georgia. The end
result there was a record-tying 18-under-par 270 and an easy four-stroke
victory. At 21, Spieth became the youngest start-to-finish leader since
Walter Hagen in 1914, and the first four-day front-runner in Augusta
since Raymond Floyd in 1976. He also broke the Masters record for
birdies, and at one point was the first player to reach 19 under-par.
That success carried over to the U.S. Open, which he also won to get halfway to golf's Grand Slam.
But that was last year, Spieth was quick to remind everyone at a news
conference Wednesday. While looking forward to hosting the Champions'
Dinner on Tuesday in Augusta, where he'll serve Texas barbeque, he said,
"I won't be celebrating whatsoever. The week is solely about the 2016
Masters to me."
He knows defending his title will be a tall order with a deep field of
contenders who have been playing better than Spieth has in recent weeks.
The Texan hasn't won a tournament this season since January and lost
his world No. 1 ranking to Jason Day when Day won the Dell Match Play in
Austin after Spieth was knocked out in the round of 16.
Day, who isn't playing at Houston, will be coming off back-to-back PGA
Tour titles, giving him six wins since July 2015, when he tees off at
the Masters. Spieth said of Day's taking over the top spot, "He
certainly deserves that position right now. It's really incredible what
Jason can do when he finds his confidence in his game."
Besides Spieth, who's now ranked second, five others among the top 11
in the world are in the Houston field: Rickie Fowler (5), Henrik Stenson
(7), Patrick Reed (10) and Louis Oosthuizen (11). The tournament's last
five champions are entered, too, including Phil Mickelson, whose
victory here in 2011 is among his 42 career PGA Tour titles.
Mickelson is one of five former Masters champions who will play the
7,441-yard, par-72 course that features both lakes and wetlands and has
been set up in many ways to replicate conditions at Augusta National. Of
the 144 players in the Houston field, at least 33 are going on to the
Masters.
And a 34th could join them with a victory Sunday. Wagner in 2008 and
Matt Jones in 2014 qualified in the last opportunity by winning Houston.
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