It’s no secret that Jordan Spieth has struggled with his putting this year. But a miscue on the greens on Friday was something entirely different. Spieth was struggling his way through the 18th hole (his 10th of the day) in his second round of the Northern Trust Open when he faced a six-inch putt for double bogey. Then he did the unthinkable: he missed it.
Spieth’s tee shot at 18 went way left, requiring a drop to get back into play. He hacked it from the rough up around the green, then chipped to just outside 20 feet. Spieth then missed his bogey putt, leaving six or seven inches for his double. As he stepped up to brush the ball in, he struck the ground with his putter instead of the ball, slowing its momentum and providing a gritty visual of a chunked putt. His Titleist never even reached the hole.
The stubbed tap-in is a staple of your average weekend foursome, where it can be laughed off and ignored on the scorecard. But on Tour it’s every player’s nightmare. Spieth rebounded nicely, getting two shots back with birdies on No. 2 and No. 5. But the triple bogey took him from contention back to two under for the tournament after opening rounds of 70-70. Watch at your own risk.
Jordan Spieth finishes his round by missing a six-inch putt, a casual tap failing to get the ball into hole. 2019 can’t come soon enough for this cat pic.twitter.com/8vNoUSW5US
— Joel Beall (@JoelMBeall) August 24, 2018
As for Spieth’s putting? Well, it hasn’t been great: the Texan’s (formerly) greatest weapon has faltered in 2018; he’s just 140th in strokes gained: putting. He’s actually been quite good from short range, though. Spieth has made 75.2% of putts between 4-8 feet, good enough for 9th on Tour.
This one was far shorter. We’ll chalk it up to a fluke.
