10 years ago, Jordan Speith was one of the biggest rising stars in golf, being compared to greats like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. But nowadays, Speith struggles to crack even the top 10 of most major tournaments.
And it can all be traced back to that fateful 12th hole at the 2016 Masters.
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0:00 Intro
1:03 Speith’s Early Career
5:41 2015 Masters Win
7:35 2016 Masters Meltdown
13:05 Career Downfall
this is 22-year-old Jordan SP teeing off at the 12th hole in the final round of the 2016 Masters just one year prior SP became the second youngest player to ever Dawn the Green Jacket leading from start to finish on route to his first ever major win and this year was no different spe held a three shot lead and was just eight holes away from becoming the youngest repeat Champion ever and then this [Music] happened and then this follow with this he didn’t even want to look at it and this and he’s never been the same now to any regular golfer this sequence looks like an average outing shooting at least 100 with a few triple bogey sprinkled into the mix but for this to happen to a professional player leading the pack at the most iconic golf course in the world now that’s something you won’t see too often but to understand the impact that this moment had on Jordan spe’s career it’s important to understand just how big the hype surrounding spe was was at the time while Jordan spe wasn’t a household name just yet many golf fans already knew of the promising young player before he turned Pro as an amateur spe won the US Junior Championships in 2009 and 2011 joining Tiger Woods as the only players to win the tournament more than once in 2012 spe would be given the chance to play at the US Open as an amateur he’d finished tied for 21st with a score of plus 7 and was the highest finishing amateur player in the field spe turned Pro in 2013 and immediately made an impact at the John Deere Classic in July spe put on a stellar performance which put him one shot behind the lead going into the 18th hole after a bad approach shot that left him in the bunker spe stepped up and sank the bunker shot to force a 3man tie break get up and down oh goodness gracious Jordan’s spith have that birdie at the last after five playoff holes spe emerged Victorious claiming his first PGA Tour trophy becoming the fifth youngest to do so spe would finish the year with three more second place finishes and was unanimously voted the 2013 PGA rookie of the year the first signs of Jordan’s potential greatness came at his first Masters in 2014 at just 20 years old spe would put three solid scores on the board to put himself in contention tying for First with Bubba Watson at minus5 going into the final round things would start out strong for spe on Championship Sunday he birdied four of his first seven holes to take a two-stroke lead but after a few bogeys put him back to minus 6 SP would arrive at the 12 hole just a stroke behind Bubba holes 11 through 13 were known as aim and Corner an Infamous stretch that would often decide the outcome of the Masters while all three holes are dangerous in their own right the par 31 12th is the Crown Jewel of the trio or rather the poisoned Apple that ruins players tournaments time and time again the hole itself is short only around 150 yard with water in the front and what appears to be a long green behind it but in reality the hole is deceptively difficult especially on Sunday when the flag is placed on the far right side of the green the safe decision when playing 12 is to aim for the left side away from both the water and the bunkers in the middle but when you’re standing up on the t-x going for the right side of the green is sometimes too tempting to pass up however the angled green and sloped front edge poses an immense challenge any ball strike without backspin will bounce into the rough but any ball that lands short will almost certainly end up in the water scoring well on this hole requires immense discipline and experience but in 2014 Jordan spe had neither down a stroke SP decided to go for the pin on the 12th and it cost him the tournament he hit it just shorter the green and the ball slowly trickled into the water and while he did well to save his bogey Jordan couldn’t close the gap in the end and finished the tournament tied for second this performance boosted spe into the top 10 of the world rankings and earned him a place on Team USA for the Ryder Cup the youngest player to join the team in over 85 years he proved to be a great addition winning two matches and drawing one although Team USA would lose to Europe by Five Points spe was the second highest performing player on his team proving his play at the Masters wasn’t a fluke spe finished the year with back-to-back wins at the Australian open and the Hero World Challenge in Florida finishing the latter with a tournament record minus 26 this puts be at sixth place in the world rankings heading into the 2015 Masters the expectations were high for the young star and yet spe managed to shatter every single one of them to say spe’s Masters run in 2015 was impressive would be an understatement spe started the tournament with a first round of 64 putting him far in the lead at 8 under par spe LED wire to wire breaking numerous records including the 36 and 54 hole scoring record most birdies at the Masters with 28 and would finish the tournament at 18 under tying Tiger Woods for the lowest Master score ever spe also joined tiger as the youngest ever Master’s champion at just 21 years of age not only did spe dominate the entire tournament he also made up for his woses on whole 12 from the previous year managing two birdies on the hole throughout the tournament spe continued his dominance in 2015 winning the US Open in June and placing second behind Jason day at the PGA Championship in August spe won three more PGA Tour events throughout the year and became the world number one in September he managed to keep that ranking well into 2016 thanks to a fourth Place finish at the open championships spe’s 2015 campaign was one of the most dominant years of golf ever as he joined Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods as the only men ever to finish in the top five at each major in a single year spe was also the youngest player to ever win multiple majors and was shaping up to be the biggest golf prodigy since Tiger Woods going into 2016 spe won his seventh PGA Tour event before the age of 23 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions joining tiger once again as the only other player to do so but spe wanted to carve out his own legacy and he had the chance to do so with the Masters that year as the tournament favorite all eyes were on speed to repeat he would become only the fourth player to ever win back-to-back Masters and at just 22 years old he would be by far the youngest to do so things started off great for Jordan spe he shot a tournament best 66 in his first round and held a two-stroke Advantage after 18 holes after two more rounds of solid golf spe became the first player to ever lead the Masters for seven consecutive rounds and while this year had once again been wired a wire it wasn’t as convincing as his 2015 performance spe Came Out Swinging in the final round stringing together four birdies in a row on the front nine to put him ahead at minus 7 the only player near spe was an unknown Englishman named Denny Willet who was five Strokes behind and three holes ahead of the defending Champion all spe had to do was get through Amen Corner unscathed and he’d capture his second Master’s victory in a row but the Crocs started to show on whole 10 when spei pushed his approach shot right into the bunker his third shot was no better as he left himself a long putt for par which he’d miss badly spe’s t-shot at 11 put him deep into the trees forcing him to lay up into the Fairway but he recovered beautifully with his third shot putting himself within 6 feet of the hole for par normally it saves the day speed had bogied backto back holes heading into 12 and after checking the stand in he realized Danny Willet had birdied two in a row his five shot lead just minutes ago had now fallen to just one but the score Gap was a little deceptive Danny Willet only had four holes left to play and was forced to lay up on the easy par five 15th his last real chance to get a birdie but spe didn’t know this all he saw was his one-hot lead quickly getting away from him and as he arrived on the T box of the 12th Jordan spe had a decision to make play it safe on the left or tempt fate once again by going for the flag 2 years prior spe was down a stroke and needed to catch up so he went straight for the hole and it ended up costing him but this year SP was the one who was ahead he was still up a stroke and had a sizable hole advantage on Willet he had gained massive experience on the course from his 2015 Master’s win all he needed to do was keep us cool and get the ball somewhere on the green but that’s not what [Music] happened spe went for the flag and it cost him once again as he hit it short and right and ended up in the water so he walked up to the Drop Zone to take his third shot hoping to save bogey like he did in 2014 but his day just kept getting worse so it’s not going to scare him if he goes long oh my goodness this is unbelievable spe would Duff his chip straight into the water and his second attempt would sail way over the green and Into the Bunker when it was all said and done spe finished with a seven a quadruple Bogey and to this day it’s his worst ever score at the Masters in just 30 minutes Jordan spe went from a commanding five-stroke lead to a three-stroke deficit an eight shot swing that’s never been seen before while there’s been some iconic collapses at the Masters namely Greg Norman’s Infamous choke where he took a six-stroke lead into the final round but would throw it away on the same 12th hole but none were as Swift and shocking as Jordan spe’s collapse spe was known for his incredible Poise and bounceback ability he had already earned the record for the highest one putut percentage of any player in Master’s history but it seemed that the pressure was just too much for the young player and so he watched helplessly his incredible career-defining moment slipping right through his fingers spe would try to bounce back with tough birdies on 13 and 15 but a bogy on 17 would seal his fate and he’d finished tied for second at minus two three shots back of the winner Danny Willet Jordan spe was all anyone could talk about after the 2016 Masters but it was for all the wrong reasons clips of his meltdown on the 12th hole were everywhere on the news and it’s regarded now as one of the worst collapses of all time what was meant to be the beginning of a legendary career turned into any golfer’s worst nightmare in just three Strokes spe would shrug off the Master’s collapse right away with a win at the dean DeLuca Invitational in may he followed that up with another Ridder cup appearance where he’d split his five matches on route to a dominant us Victory the first in 8 years but it was clear that spe had lost a step as he was far more inconsistent and seemed to have lost a bit of his confidence spe stayed in the top 10 of the golf rankings for two more years but couldn’t find success at a major tournament failing to crack the top 10 for the next six Majors spe briefly found his footing again in the summer of 2017 with a brilliant bunker shot to win The Travelers cup and his 10th PGA Tour event before the age of 25 he’d followed that up with a back and forth brawl with Matt coocher at the open championships that he’d eventually win to grab his third major trophy once again putting him in the company of greats like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicholas but this would be the last time these comparisons happened as Jordan’s form would take a nose dive in 2018 SP would drop out of the top 10 rankings and would go winless on the PGA tour for the first time in his career even missing the cut at the US Open 2019 and 2020 were no different as spe would fail to win any events only managing one third place at the PGA champ ionship because of this spe would fall to as low as 80th in the world rankings after almost 4 years without a tournament Victory spe would finally pull one off at the Valero Texas open to end a 1300 day streak a third place at the Masters and a runner-up finish at the open teased the idea of spe returning to form but the hype was shortlived SP would miss the cut at the 2022 Masters for the first time in his care career capped off by yet another quadruple bogey this time on the 15th to this day spe has not won a tournament since 2021 and is placed no higher than eighth in any [Music] major what started as an incredible career filled with promise and aspirations of greatness has plummeted into the depths of mediocrity comparisons to greats like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicholas now seem like foolish remarks with the benefit of hindsight and while spe can sometimes Echo shades of his former self it’s clear that he’s no longer the same player Jordan spe won seven events in his first two years of golf a number only tiger can touch but in the last8 years spe’s only managed six and that turning point in his career happened right here at the 12th hole of the 2016 Masters a 5-minute sequence of bad decisions bad shots and a bit of bad luck turned his crowning achievement into the most iconic choke and golf History Jordan spe is a fantastic golfer who’s had one hell of a career but when we look back on his legacy 20 years from now that meltdown on the 12th hole of the Masters is all we’ll ever care to remember [Music]
