Champion’s Breakfast :: Apr 13th Sublime Spieth, Phil and resurgent Rose

Endless records for sublime Spieth

He’s the second youngest ever champion of the Masters after Tiger Woods in 1997 but that wasn’t the only major feat that the American achieved in what was only his second Masters tournament.

As for records broken, there were plenty including:

• 36-hole record at 14-under (130);
• 54-hole record at 16-under (200);
• Most tournament birdies (28);
• Lowest opening round by a champion;
• Youngest player to lead after the opening round;
• First player to reach 19-under.

Other major pieces of history he created were:

• First wire-to-wire winner since Raymond Floyd in 1976 and the fifth in the history of the tournament;
• Second youngest Masters champion;
• Second player since 1940 to have three PGA Tour wins at 21 or younger.

So yeah, a pretty exceptional week for Spieth and the only thing he really struggled with was putting on the green jacket…

Phil’s flashes of sheer brilliance

With Justin Rose’s bogey at the last, he tied Mickelson for second place in what was the 44-year-old’s tenth runner-up finish at a major tournament.

He moves alongside Arnold Palmer in those stakes but is still way behind Jack Nicklaus’ 19 runner-up finishes.

Mickelson played some superb golf over the four days and with a final score of 14-under, would’ve won or made the play-off in 73 of the previous 78 Masters.

‘Lefty’ was full of praise for Spieth’s performance over the four days but played some great stuff of his own, including a chip in at the 15th for eagle yesterday and this 40ft birdie putt at the 16th on Saturday…

Resurgent Rose

Rose came into Augusta with very little in the way of form with three missed cuts, 55th at the WGC-Cadillac Championship and T37 at the Shell Houston so far in 2015.

But the 34-year-old Englishman, who has led the Masters after the first, second and third rounds in the past but never gone on to win it, turned in a fantastic four rounds which he hopes can set him up well for the rest of the season.

He said: “Fourteen-under par around this golf course is definitely a good effort and something that if I can continue to play like that, I’m going to have great chances in this tournament in years to come.

“I felt really comfortable with the situation today and I think that’s where you grow as a player. Form comes and goes but how you feel in the biggest environments is where you grow the most so I’m excited to have put myself back in this position and I feel like my game can get stronger.”

Six-under round for Rory

World No.1 McIlroy outshone playing partner Woods on Sunday with a six-under bogey-free round of 66 to finish alone in fourth place.

The 25-year-old was ten-under for the weekend after opening with a pair of 71s and hopes his performance in the final two rounds can help him moving forward.

He said: “I played well and I can take a lot of positives from it. It is my best ever finish here and I played the last 45 holes in 15‑under par.

“I did a lot of things I wanted to do. I played the par‑5s well but I just left myself too much to do after 27 holes of this golf tournament. Forty on the front nine on Friday really left me with an uphill battle but it was just great to get in for the weekend and make the most of a great finish on Friday.”

Matsuyama marvels on final day

As well as the four players mentioned above, the only other player to card four sub-par rounds this week was Matsuyama who, in the process, recorded his best ever Masters finish of fifth.

Going under the radar with lots of big names playing ahead of him, the 23-year-old Japanese star shot a bogey-free six-under final round of 66 to gain automatic qualification for the tournament next year.