AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Jordan Spieth has looks, talent, money, that sweetheart smile, and he's cooler than the other side of the pillow. So, if the question is: How will he sleep tonight on the lead? Or if the question is: Can the kid, 21 years old, win golf's grandest tournament leading wire-to-wire? The answers are: Damn well and damn right.
Well, this takes some explaining, especially after Spieth made double bogey at the 17th, missing a short putt, and then fanned his second right of the 18th, requiring an up-and-down for a par that he might not duplicate again in a hundred tries.
"Obviously, being 4-under at one point in the round and closing it out at 2-under is disappointing," he said. But he pronounced himself "very pleased" with the up-and-down at 18. "That just took some guts. . . . it was nice to have seen that go that way, to play the aggressive play, and to close it out with a nice putt."
The finish gave him "a lot of confidence going into tomorrow," Spieth said. "It's not like Saturday versus Sunday should make any difference to me."
And yet he knows. Of course, he knows. He's a bright guy who knows Sunday from Saturday. Tiger and McIlroy are paired Sunday. "Well, you're going to hear something there," he said, meaning the galleries' roars. Mickelson will be directly ahead of Spieth and Rose. "Why wouldn't you love Phil? He's going to make some noise and he's going to make a run. In our group, Justin is going to do the same, and Charley (Hoffman) is going to do the same. It's about just throwing those out of my mind, not worrying about it, not caring, setting a goal and being patient with the opportunities that are going to come my way."
That, he will do. And he, too, will hear the roars.
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