Jordan Spieth hopeful that his putting woes have been cured

In his five-plus years of professional golf, Jordan Spieth’s game can speak for itself. He likes to speak for it, too, sometimes in a steady stream of words directed at his golf ball as it’s in flight.

Spieth thinks his game is rounding into form heading into this week’s Masters Tournament. If that can help him keep quiet? Well, all the better.

“I'm not a big fan of and I don't really recognize how often I'm yelling at the golf ball. I'm not — actually it annoys me to watch myself do that personally,” the 2015 Masters champion said during Tuesday’s interview session at Augusta National Golf Club.

“But it's — I guess it's something I've probably always done, and so I don't know if it will stop.”

Spieth’s always talked to the ball from the fairway.

Spieth is at a staggering 185th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting after never being lower than 60th in his career. He called it a “panic” that took a turn for the better last week in Houston following a tie for third place.

“It's getting there. I'm not here to say that it's there, because it's not there yet. But it doesn't mean that it can't, I can't lead in strokes gained putting this week.”

Spieth tees off at 1:49 p.m. Thursday with Alex Noren of Sweden and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa.

POULTER SHOWS UP: The last man in the field was the last man on the course Tuesday evening at Augusta National.

Ian Poulter arrived around midday and teed off after 3 p.m., playing by himself. With the Augusta National grounds crew busy mowing greens and preparing the course for Wednesday’s practice rounds around him, Poulter was in good spirits, interacting with the remaining patrons who were enjoying the last hours of daylight.

The last two weeks have been a wild ride for the 42-year-old Poulter. He was 51st in the World Golf Rankings after the cutoff event, the WGC-Match Play, and the top 50 receive a Masters invite. A last-minute decision to play the Shell Houston Open produced an opening 73 but he shot 64-65-67 in the final three rounds, sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force a sudden-death playoff with Beau Hossler.

Poulter won on the first hole, becoming the 87th player in the Masters field.

Poulter elicits a strong reaction from most who follow golf due to his fiery nature and unabashed presence on social media. When a patron told Poulter he was contemplating betting on him and asked how he was feeling, Poulter shrugged and said, “It’s not my cash, buddy.”

He paused as patrons snapped photos, bantered with those walking along and thanked the well-wishers. As he made the turn, Justin Rose and his caddie walked over from the putting green and offered congratulations on the victory.

RAHM READY: It's a different feeling for Jon Rahm the second time around at Augusta National Golf Club.

For one reason, the Spaniard gets to share the atmosphere that comes from a fellow countryman returning to defend the green jacket after Sergio Garcia broke through to win the 2017 Masters Tournament.

“It's pretty nice to have a Spaniard be a defending champion,” Rahm said. “It's a different atmosphere and I think all of us get treated a little differently just because Sergio won, because we're all friends and teammates in that sense. So you can already feel something is special, especially when a friend wins.”

More importantly for Rahm, he now has the experience of a Masters appearance under his belt.

The 23-year-old tied for 27th last year but was in contention for much of the tournament. A 3-over-par 75 in the final round bumped him outside the top 20, but he came away with a promising Masters debut.

Rahm carries that experience into his second attempt, and that’s something he thinks is important to contend over the course of four days.

“I would say I'm much more mature as a player, much more experienced in the sense that I played the golf course before, and this is one of those golf courses you need to play many, many times to learn certain things,” he said.