Another quad leads to Spieth’s highest Masters round

Jordan Spieth avoided trouble on the par-3 12th hole this time. But he found it three holes later Thursday and ended up with 3-over-par 75, his highest score in a first round of the Masters Tournament by four shots.

Spieth had excelled in the previous first rounds, shooting 71 in 2014, 64 in his winning year of 2015 and 66 last year. He is 10 shots off the pace set by Charley Hoffman.

The 75 is Spieth’s fourth consecutive over-par round at Augusta National and his highest Masters round ever. Thursday was his first competitive round since a quadruple-bogey 7 on the 12th cost him a chance to win his second straight Masters title last year.

Spieth made a solid par there Thursday, hitting the green and two-putting from 35 feet.

He downplayed the result, saying hitting the green off the tee was “just as important as it was for me to hit it on the green on 4 and 6 and 16 (the other three par-3s).”

It wasn’t just any shot to his fans in the gallery, who let him know about it.

“I was a bit surprised at how loud the cheer was when my ball landed about 35 feet away from the hole,” he said.

One of those fans who cheered was Atlanta’s David Chapman.

“Just getting this shot over with, it’s all in the past now, truly,” he said. “He’s already played it competitively. Everybody else makes a much bigger deal about it than it is for him. You cannot be where Jordan Spieth is without being so mentally tough. In his mind, this is just another golf hole.”

Chapman’s friend, David Whitfield, of Palm Springs, Calif., said, “It’s just another hole. Everybody else is thinking about it, but as a player you have to put it out of your mind.”

Spieth was cruising along at even par through 14 holes, but he made another quadruple bogey, this time a 9, on the par-5 15th, spinning his third shot off the green and into the water. After taking a drop and a one-stroke penalty, his next shot was over the green. He three-putted after getting on the green.

“You think of it as a birdie hole, obviously being a par-5,” Spieth said. “And unfortunately I still thought of it as a birdie hole today, and it really isn’t when you lay up. So I didn’t take my medicine, and hit it about 15 feet right with a club that takes the spin off. Instead I was stuck in the 15‑is‑a‑birdie‑hole mentality, and it kind of bit me a little bit. I struck the shot well; I just hit the wrong club. I struck it very solid. I used a club that would spin instead of one that would maybe take the spin off.”

When Spieth finished, William McGirt was leading with 69.

“I doubt the scores get much better than a couple under today, and maybe three or four by the end of tomorrow,” Spieth said several hours before Hoffman shot 7-under 65. “So I’m going to probably need to play something under par tomorrow, which puts a little bit extra, added maybe bit of pressure that I wouldn’t have put on tomorrow, because I was thinking even par for the two days was a good score.

“And obviously now 3‑over, I feel like I need to snag something tomorrow. But do it through patience and taking advantage of the par‑5s.