Jordan Spieth’s Final Round at the 2021 Waste Management Phoenix Open
After Jordan Spieth’s thrilling third round 61 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale the golf world was abuzz. Jordan would be playing in the final group on Sunday and was tied for the lead at 18-under with Xander Schauffele. As everyone in the golf world knows, Jordan has been in a prolonged slump since his last win in July 2017 at the British Open at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. Golf fans love Jordan for his willingness to display his emotions through his constant on course chatter with his caddy, his golf ball, and even himself. Jordan also attracts fans with his high-wire recovery shots and his ability to make long clutch putts with tournaments in the balance. Given the anticipation in the golf world for Jordan’s final round at the Phoenix Open on Sunday, I decided to document the key moments of his round.
In clear, perfect weather in Scottsdale, Jordan teed off at 1:20 PM EST. On the 1st hole, a 422-yard par 4, he hit his tee shot wide right with a hybrid. His ball ended up in the desert to the right of the rough. He actually got a good break that he was even able to play his ball, as it was barely in front of a cactus bush that could have interfered with his downswing. On this recovery shot from the desert he made an athletic swing where he came down into the ball very steeply to avoid coming down on the cactus bush in his downswing. The recovery shot ended up to the right of the green, and this led to an opening bogey. This certainly seemed like it foreshadowed bad things to come, as going into the final round, you knew the field would be making birdies on a very scorable course.
On the par 5 3rd hole, Jordan then unfortunately began to show signs of a troubling two-way miss as he pulled his drive left into a fairway bunker. This mistake cost Jordan a valuable scoring chance to go for the green on his second shot to get an eagle or easy birdie opportunity. Instead, he had to lay up, which led to a par.
By the 4th hole, it was very noticeable on the telecast that there was not much momentum exuding from the final group of Jordan, Xander, and Scottie Scheffler. Jordan and Xander started the final round 4 shots ahead of the field, but at this point, I first got the feeling that someone in a group out ahead of them would probably catch them soon on the leaderboard. Although, at this point, Spieth did seem fairly calm, as I didn’t notice him having any audible dialogues with himself or his caddy about his slow start.
On the 474-yard par 4 5th hole, Jordan hit an aggressive approach shot right at the pin from 138 yards out in the fairway. He was the only player in the final grouping that elected to challenge the pin that was just 4 paces off the left side of the green. He ultimately missed his birdie putt and parred the hole.
On the 422-yard par 4 6th hole, the momentum briefly swung back to Jordan after Xander hit a loose approach shot into the green from 85 yards out in the fairway. Xander’s approach spun back off the green which left him with a tricky chip, which ultimately led to a bogey. This brought Jordan back into a tie for the lead after he two-putted for par.
Jordan’s tie at the top didn’t last for long, as on the par 3 7th hole he missed a three-and-a-half-foot par putt which allowed James Hahn to take the solo lead. Then, by the time Jordan made par on 8th hole, Hahn’s lead was up to three shots.
At this point for Jordan on the 457-yard par 4 9th, I thought it was a very crucial moment in Spieth’s round. Jordan found himself three shots behind Hahn, and he hit his approach from 136 yards out to 10 feet which gave him a birdie look and a chance to stay close to Hahn. Jordan then missed the putt as his ball rolled just past the left edge of the cup.
By now, Jordan seemed to be fading, so it was fitting that Jordan had his first memorable in-round dialogue of the day that was picked up on the telecast. From 128 yards out in the fairway on the par 4 10th, Jordan yelled “I made a big mistake!” as he blasted his wedge shot long onto the back of the green, leaving himself with a treacherous 58-foot putt. This was then followed by a tee shot pushed way right on the par 4 11th, which forced him to have to punch out to the fairway and ultimately led to a bogey. At this point, he had not yet made a birdie, but was still only 2 shots off the lead shared by Hahn and Schauffele.
Then, on the reachable par 5 13th hole Jordan hit an aggressive second shot from 233 yards out in the fairway. He challenged the pin that was just 4 paces off the left side of the green and left himself a 25-foot eagle putt. He two-putted from there for his first birdie of the day, and this brought him to one shot back of the lead, with Hahn suddenly struggling and Brooks Koepka in the midst of a run up the leaderboard.
With the tournament reaching its action-packed closing stretch, on the par 4 14th Jordan made par after a solid approach to 15 feet from 176 yards out. On this hole Xander began to fall back from the lead after he hit his drive left into the desert and elected to take an unplayable, ultimately leading to a bogey. Walking off the 14th green, Jordan was still only one back of the lead.
Jordan then proceeded to hook his drive into the water on the left on the reachable par 5 15th hole. As soon as his drive hit the ground and continued to bound left, I knew it was heading right into the water as the fairway also slopes from right to left. This led to a disappointing par.
Then, Jordan’s round reached the end of the road on the reachable par 4 17th hole. Jordan hit a drawing 3-wood off the tee into the green, and on the telecast you could hear Jordan desperately and repeatedly yelling “SIT” as his ball scurried across the green and rolled into the water bordering the left side of the green. Asking for his ball to sit was wishful thinking, as the shaved down bank on the left of the green is very likely to propel any tee shots rolling off the green into the water. We saw how fast this runoff around the green was when we saw Justin Thomas’ greenside bunker shot from the right side roll off the green and into the water in the first round earlier in the week. In this final round, while the pin was only 3 paces off the right side of the green, and a shot to the left of the pin would leave a much easier run at eagle, it was really not a smart play to miss this green left. In the 3rd round Jordan flew his tee shot way right of the green and still managed to make birdie, although in the 3rd round the pin was on the left side of the green which did make the second shot from the right of the green easier. In the final round, while a shot short or to the right of the pin certainly would have left a more difficult chip than if Jordan’s tee shot held the left side of the green, it would have at least given him a shot at holing an eagle chip like the eventual winner Koepka did. Jordan’s errant tee shot led to a par on what was supposed to be a birdie hole.
After the disappointment at the 17th, Jordan birdied the 18th and finished with a one-over par 72, which left him in a tie for 4th place and 2 shots behind winner Brooks Koepka. It was great for the game of golf to have Jordan back in the mix on a Sunday, and while it certainly is a step in the right direction for Jordan, my biggest takeaway from the weekend is that everyone should be patient with Jordan. Just because he has one great round, or even a couple, doesn’t mean that he is all the sudden “back”. Jordan will be “back” when he puts together a couple of good tournaments in a row and is able to display trust and control of his game in some pressure situations on the weekends of tournaments. Here’s to hoping that it happens sooner rather than later.
