Can Jordan Spieth Find the Magic—And His Putter—at The Masters?

Boyhood pals Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were paired in an event on the Florida Swing last month, and on the eve of the round, they made a friendly wager regarding who would shoot the lower score.

"Loser shaves their head tomorrow?" Spieth tweeted.

It was self-deprecating humor, to be sure. Neither of the rising PGA Tour stars, both 22 years old, have much upstairs to spare. In fact, the tops of their noggins have less coverage than this week's icy-slick greens at Augusta National.

"That's not a bet either of us needs to wish upon each other," Thomas tweeted in response.

Comb in hand or not, Spieth already has spread himself thin in 2016—a stretch in which his results are middling compared to his breakout spring and summer of last year.

Hahahahahahaha yes!!!! — Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34)March 5, 2016

After piecing together one of the most impressive seasons of the modern era, especially in the majors, the reigning Masters champion cashed in on his PGA Tour player-of-the-year celebrity by signing up for a series of hefty appearance-fee events abroad. The side sessions only contributed to a busy schedule: Since November, he's played in South Korea, China, Australia, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Hawaii and the Bahamas.

He went from green jackets to jacking green. The end result: Wallet filled, batteries drained.

After starting 2016 in familiar fashion with a victory against a short PGA Tour field in Hawaii, he finished fifth on the other side of the world in Abu Dhabi and admitted that the travel workload had been unexpectedly daunting. Then he hopped on a plane headed for the pay-for-play event in Singapore.

"We are kind of beat up mentally," Spieth said at the time. "Physically, we're not 100% right now. It shows in certain places, and this week, the first day I was here, I was striping it. Since then, I was just a little weak."

The trip was a harbinger of sorts. After finishing first, fifth and second in his first three 2016 starts, culminating with the Singapore stop, he's hardly mattered on PGA Tour weekends. In six starts in the States since, he's finished no better than tied for ninth, and that result came in the 64-man Dell Match Play Championship.

The comparison-contrast from year over year is jarring: At this point in 2015, Spieth headed to the Masters having won in Tampa and coming off consecutive runner-up finishes at the Texas and Houston opens. He set or tied scoring marks after the second, third and fourth rounds at the Masters. Two months later, he won the U.S. Open, too, and finished 2015 with seven sanctioned victories.

So far, the encore has been off-core. Spieth has largely fallen back into the leaderboard pack and last month surrendered his No. 1 ranking to red-hot Aussie Jason Day, who heads into the Masters riding a two-tournament winning streak and as the Las Vegas favorite.

Some suggested that skipping last week's event in Houston might have been prudent, but as a Texas native, Spieth teed it up, anyway. Given his comparatively modest results, Spieth's burnout-inducing global schedule has been a major point of discussion.

"I think it was good that he did it this early in his career because he learned from it," ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer Curtis Strange said. "He learned that it does wear you out, and the most important thing to be ready for is the official calendar year of tournament golf.

"I think he's probably a little tired, but as the year progresses, there's nothing wrong with his game … I sense he's just not making the putts that he made last year."

An astute observation. Human eyeballs and the PGA Tour's computers verify that Spieth isn't converting on the putting greens as often as he did 12-15 months ago, when he seemingly didn't have a jangling nerve ending anywhere in his body.

Last Friday night in Texas, after he shot a 1-over 73 in the second round of the Shell Houston Open, Spieth got to the crux of his 2016 malaise as far as execution is concerned.

"I got to putt better," he said. "I'm losing a couple strokes back to the field on putting, and normally we're gaining strokes.

"Inside 10 feet, I've got to be solid and confident. I can't get into a rhythm. I'm stepping off putts. That's a tough feeling that kind of bleeds into the rest of your game, too, because you feel like you've got to be more aggressive."

Heading into Augusta National, he's looking for answers on putting surfaces that are as punitive as any in the history of the sport.

In the PGA Tour's favorite new metric, strokes gained putting, Spieth had fallen from ninth in 2016 to 25th entering last week's start at Houston. Following his 73 in the third round last weekend, Spieth had signed for seven over-par scores in a span of 14 stroke-play rounds. He shot a pair of 2-under 70s on the weekend to finish tied for 13th.

Sure, Spieth has finished an impressive second and first, respectively, in his two career starts at the Masters, but entering the gates at Augusta with a balky putter is more daunting than trying to sneak past one of the club's frowning security guards without a credential.

"I have to get better before next week," he said Friday. "I got to get more comfortable, and find a set-up position that I feel like is going to produce the correct start lines."

As for a finishing position, the public hasn't forgotten how Spieth torched the place last year, finishing 18 under to tie the event's 72-hole scoring record, which he shares with Tiger Woods, a four-time champion. Day (7/1) is the only player with better Las Vegas odds than Spieth and Rory McIlroy, both listed at 8/1.

Speaking of the numbers eight and one, Spieth hit eight Titleists in the water over four rounds in Houston. So there's clearly more amiss than just his putter. In terms of performance data, there has always been more to Spieth than the apparent sum of his parts, which at the moment, might be problematic.

Only three players have won back-to-back titles at the Masters: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

"It's clear that you cannot capture what Jordan Spieth is with statistics," Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said. "Things don't add up. But it is also clear that as much as history bets against him winning back-to-back Masters, history would have bet against a 20-year-old finishing second, and against a 21-year-old winning."

True, but for those who don't believe that burnout or an uncooperative putter are the primary culprits behind his less-than-scintillating spring, there is another possible explanation, and it's a sobering one.

Given his stellar play at such a young age, it's darned possible, if not likely, that Spieth simply peaked early and will never again approach last season's historic levels of dominance.

"It could turn out 20 years from now that that could be the absolutely best stretch of his life," said Strange, a two-time major winner. "I don't think so. I hope not. But it very well could be."