Jordan Spieth dominates to win 2015 Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Ben Crenshaw, a two-time Masters champion, played here for the final time this week, ending an emotional 4 decades-plus relationship. At his farewell pre-tournament press conference he was asked about fellow Texan Jordan Spieth, who's 42 years younger.

His face couldn't have lit up more if you'd told him he'd just birdied the entire back nine.

"I think the world of him," the man known as Gentle Ben marveled. "He's way more mature than I was at 21 . . .

"You know, when I first met him, I tell you I'll never forget it. I looked right at him and he looked at me and I thought I was looking at Wyatt Earp. He just had that look about him."

Well, now it sure looks as if Augusta National has a new sheriff.

Last April, in his Masters debut, Spieth was the co-third-round leader and had a chance to become the youngest to get a green jacket. He would finish second, three behind 2012 champion Bubba Watson.

Yesterday at overcast Augusta National, Spieth again started the final round of the season's first major in front, this time by himself, four clear of the posse. Which meant it had turned into his dreaded tournament to lose. Ask Greg Norman how that can unfold. Especially at this place, where things have been known to change in less time than it takes to down one of those pimento cheese sandwiches.

The Masters supposedly doesn't begin until the final nine holes. But this one obviously got going quite a bit earlier. So by the time the last group made the turn it was pretty much a done deal except for the details.

Spieth, who has family ties to the Lehigh Valley, will have to settle for being the second-youngest to earn an invitation to the annual Champion's Dinner. He's 6 months younger than Tiger Woods was in 1997, when he shot a record 18-under-par 270 and won by a dozen, another record. But Spieth, who'd set the 36-hole (130) and 54-hole (200) scoring marks, came home with a 2-under 70 despite a closing bogey that gave him a 270 of his own. He finished four ahead of 2013 U.S. Open champ Justin Rose (also a 70) and three-time winner Phil Mickelson (69).

"It's the most incredible week of my life," said Spieth, who's the fourth to win in his second appearance. "This is as great as it gets in our sport. It's a dream for me. It was remarkable.

"I'm still in shock a little bit . . . I'm excited already about coming back. And being the Masters champion. That carries a heavy weight. I hope I'll be ready for it, and what it means. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

"I might not take the jacket off for awhile. I may sleep in it tonight. To hear the echoes at this place, it's magical. This has always been my ultimate goal. I may have to change that."

It was indeed epic stuff. Nothing wrong with sharing a record with a four-time champ.

Oops, almost forgot. On Thursday he'd become the youngest 18-hole leader, with an opening 64.

He's the fifth to go wire-to-wire (no ties), and first since Raymond Floyd in 1976. And the eighth from the Lone Star State to win at least once, a list that includes Jimmy Demaret (three), Ben Hogan (two) and Byron Nelson (two). The last had been Crenshaw, 20 years ago.

He made 28 birdies for the tourney, to break Phil Mickelson's high of 25 from 2001. Lefty shot 275 that year to finish third, three behind Woods.

"I thought it might be easier today [than Saturday]," admitted Spieth, who had four bogeys, as many as he carded in the first three rounds (to go with one double bogey). "It wasn't. Very nerve-racking. I didn't get much sleep.

"The hardest part was just managing the situation, the mental side of it. There's a lot of time to think through scenarios."

He and Rose nonetheless started birdie-birdie, and it was basically a two-man game the rest of the way although Mickelson, in his best showing since last August's second at the PGA Championship, at least kept lurking.

"I played a good, solid round," said Mickelson, who generated the loudest crowd noise when he holed out a bunker shot for eagle at 15. "I needed something exceptional to have a chance. I just got outplayed. I would have taken 14-under at the start of the week. I thought that might win. But 18-under is astounding . . .

"It's hard not to like [Spieth]."

Did we mention that Spieth often talks to his ball while it's in the air? The Titleists are obviously listening. He's 79-under in nine events this season. And his last four have produced two wins and as many seconds.

Still, what happens at Augusta National is historical. Who knows? Maybe he's even the next Rory McIlroy, who was trying to complete a career grand slam by bagging his third straight major yet never made a move until way too late.

"It's nice to get that major tally up and running at an early age," said 25-year-old Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner who went 68-66 on the weekend to get fourth at 276. "I'm sure he's going to get many more."

This, from a bloke who infamously couldn't hold onto a final-nine lead here in 2011.

Spieth's advantage shrunk to three twice, after five holes and again after seven. It grew to as much as six, after 11. The margin was four at the par-3 16th, where he hit his tee shot over the green. With Rose looking at a 12-foot birdie op, there was a chance for a two-shot swing. But Spieth got up-and-down, and Rose's putt just slid by on the low side. And that was officially it.

"Every time I thought there may be a chink in the armor, he holed [something]," Rose said.

What remained from there on in was a coronation.

Waiting for him after he walked off the 18th green were his parents, Shawn and Chris, both athletes at Saucon Valley High School; grandfather Donald, a prominent music instructor and conductor who still calls Bethlehem home; and brother Steven, who's a guard on Brown's basketball team.

His sister Ellie, a special-needs teenager from whom Spieth says he gets much of his inspiration, was watching in Dallas. That promises to be some greeting.

"The reason I had a smile on my face when I walked up 18 was I saw them," he said. "It means the world to share this with them."

And really, who wants to be second here twice in a row?

"I was already hungry from last year, watching it slip away," he said. "You get reminded of it all the time. This is a different legacy.

"I took my mind off this moment the last week. But it's very, very special to join the club."

You want to try and draw on him?