Defending Masters champion Jordan Spieth believes his game is in better shape now than it was ahead of his record-breaking victory in last year’s tournament.
Spieth stormed to his first major title at Augusta National 12 months ago, setting scoring records after 36 and 54 holes, becoming the first player ever to reach 19-under par and equalling the 72-hole tournament record of 270 set by Tiger Woods.
The world No. 2 also recorded 28 birdies, beating the previous best of 25 set by Phil Mickelson, as he became the first player to lead outright after each round since Raymond Floyd in 1976.
And despite struggling somewhat to follow up his brilliant victory in Hawaii at the start of 2016, the 22-year-old was in confident mood ahead of his bid to join Jack Nicklaus, Woods and Nick Faldo as the only players to win back-to-back Masters titles.
“I’ve had a fantastic couple of days thus far preparing and my game feels great,” Spieth said. “We’re (Spieth and caddie Michael Greller) going to try and just use last year as momentum. We know we’re capable of playing this place, we have proven it to ourselves the last two years.
“My game actually feels better right now than I think it did last year on Tuesday, so that’s good if we can keep it consistent.”
Spieth has only played the Masters twice, but held the lead early in the final round before finishing second to Bubba Watson in 2014 before last year’s wire-to-wire triumph.
The American then won the US Open at Chambers Bay and finished a shot outside the three-man playoff in the Open Championship at St Andrews, before rounding off a remarkable major campaign by finishing second to Jason Day in the PGA Championship.
Asked if such performances meant an unprecedented calendar grand slam was possible, Spieth added: “That’s a tough one. I would have said prior to last year, no. And it’s almost conceited for me to say because of last year, maybe.
“But we were so close and it was one break here or there. We got the breaks this week and we certainly got the breaks at the US Open. We were really, really close.
“I had control of my own destiny at the Open Championship. And then the PGA, I’ll use an excuse right now and say there was a threestroke difference in the draw.
“You have to have everything go your way to win a golf tournament, let alone to win a major. There might be someone, some day that comes along that’s as dominant as Tiger has been in 2000, 2001 and, yeah, if they’re just that good, you can get the breaks, and even if you don’t you can still maybe win.
“I got as good breaks as I could last year and didn’t pull it off. I think it can happen, but especially with the way things have changed in media and just the lack of ability to stay private, if someone wins the first three majors, it’s going to be very difficult to shut out the noise by the fourth and to still play your own game.”
Spieth tees off on Thursday at 17:48 (UAE time) alongside Paul Casey and Bryson DeChambeau.
