See what Jordan Spieth had to say immediately after throwing away the Masters

And we thought it was impossible to be unhappy wearing a green jacket

The 2016 Masters was Jordan Spieth’s to win. Spieth had a five-shot lead as he reached the 10th tee. Three holes later, he’d dropped six shots and found himself off the top of the leaderboard for the first time that day. 

Danny Willett is the main story, and his fantastic achievement should not be undermined by suggestions that Spieth handed it to him on a plate. Willett shot a fantastic 67 – the joint low round of the day – and hit the big shots and holed the big putts when it mattered. He coped with the demands of being a long way off the lead. He coped with the demands of being right in the hunt. And, having taken top spot, he coped with the even greater demands of seeing out the victory. 

But Spieth’s story is also a big one. The defending champion looked so destined for victory that large swathes of the television audience switched off and went to bed. So where did it all go wrong? Here’s what Spieth had to say after a round of 73 that he’ll likely never forget – for all the wrong reasons.

Where it all went wrong

“I went bogey, bogey, quad. I went five, five, seven. I was playing a dream come true front-nine. I knew par was good enough, and maybe that was what hurt me. I knew the lead was five with nine holes to play, and those two bogeys weren’t going to hurt me.”

The disaster on 12 

“It was just a lapse of concentration. I didn’t take that extra deep breath and really focus on my line. Instead, I went up and I just put a quick swing on it.”

Getting coach Cameron McCormick to fly back before the final round

“I didn’t ask for him; he texted me and said ‘hey, would you like it if I came back?’ I said, ‘sure, it can only help me if he’s here’. He likes for me to be self-reliant, but at the same time… the wheels kind of came off on the last three holes on Saturday, and I think he felt that just his voice would bring my confidence back into my swing and it certainly did. And he knew what was wrong and that if he were here watching shots on the range it would make a difference and it did – my confidence going to the first hole was fantastic.”

Playing poorly, but getting away with it 

“I had my B- game tee to green and I made up for it around the greens and with my putter. Ultimately, you just have to have your A game with every single part. I just didn’t have it with those iron swings, as it showed on the back nine.”

Lessons learnt

“I learnt what I learnt in 2014, to just stay committed on 12. It’s a 150-yard shot, I feel like I can put it next to the hole, and it’s a stock 9-iron for me. But that hole, for whatever reason, has people’s number.” 

The one swing that cost him the tournament

“It was really just one swing. 10 and 11, you can take bogeys there. I was still 2-under for the tournament with a couple of par-5s left. My goal for the day was 4-under, so we were still right on pace. I just didn’t take tha extrat deep breath. Michael said, ‘hit it here, hit it right here’ but I remember just getting over the ball thinking ‘I’m just gonna go ahead and hit a little cut to the hole’ and that’s what I did in 2014 and it cost me the tournament then, too.

The drop that compounded the mistake

“I wasn’t exactly sure what to do there. It went in so far to the right that if I could go behind the drop zone I could have gotten to a number that I liked, similar to 2014 where I ended up saving bogey. I didn’t want to drop it at 65 yards off a downslope into that green. That’s just a number where you can’t get the full spin; I wanted to get to a number where I could get it to stop where it landed, to have a skip and come back. So I wanted 80 yards. I’m not really sure what happened on the next shot, I just hit it fat.”

The fan support that helped him bounce back 

“It was very cool, what the patrons here did for me. They almost brought me back into it. I played 13, made birdie. Bad drive on 14, made up for it. Birdied 15 and all of a sudden they believed I could do it and it helped me believe I could do it. Of course we’re going to fight back; there’s no give up in us. We tried, but, you know, just one bad swing.”

The green jacket ceremony

“I can’t think of anybody else who may have had a tougher ceremony to experience. Obviously happy for Danny. More important than golf, he’s had a lot of cool things happen in his life. Like he said, maybe fate had it this time for him. I certainly wanted to control fate myself. It was very tough, given that it’s so soon after the finish. It was tough but I thought he handled it with extreme class and I thought I stood up there and smiled like I should and appreciated everybody who makes this great tournament possible.”

Regrets 

“You wonder about not just the tee shot on 12 but why can’t you just control the second shot and make five at worst and you’re still tied for the lead. Big picture? This one will hurt. It’ll take a while.”