Jordan Spieth on His Masters Collapse: "My dog didn't die, I'm doing OK"

Jordan Spieth has broken his silence on his Masters collapse. Before a practice round on Wednesday at U.S. Open site Oakmont, where Spieth looks to defend his title, the young Texan spoke to the media:

Via USA Today:

"“I’m not taking it very hard,” Spieth told reporters Tuesday near Pittsburgh when asked about his collapse on the back nine in the Masters that derailed his chance to win back-to-back green jackets at Augusta National. “I have ladies at grocery stores coming up and putting their hand on me and going, ‘I’m really praying for you. How are you doing?’ And I’m like, ‘My dog didn’t die, I’m doing OK.’ I’ll survive; it happens. It was unfortunate timing. “Actually I laugh about it now. I really do. But it keeps coming up, and I understand that.”"

He went on to explain what happened, and how he hit the first shot into the water and followed that up with a bad second shot.

"“I wasn’t trying to hit the ball at the flag on 12,” said Spieth, who will next play in next week’s Players Championship. “I was trying to hit it to our spot on the left. I already made the mistake in 2014 hitting it in the water there. My miss that week was slightly off the heel with a short right shot, and had that miss come on 11, it’s no problem. Had it come on 14, 16, these other holes, it’s no problem. It was just bad timing on the miss; then a just poorly executed wedge on the next. … “And you know, it is what it is, and I’ll move on. If you’re in contention at a major, hopefully 50-plus times in your career, something like that is bound to happen. Just don’t let it happen again.”"

Spieth knows that for the rest of time no one will forget his performance on the 12th hole, but he has a Masters win and a U.S. Open title under his belt. Had this been his first major tournament to make a run at, the story may be different.

"“It will keep coming back up, even if I were to go on to next week and win and to go on to Oakmont and produce clutch shots and win. It’s still going to come up when I get back to Augusta. I understand that,” Spieth said. “… I think the biggest impact for me came from personal messages that I received from some of the world’s greatest athletes, and I’m not going to give names out because I don’t want to, this is confidential. “But literally from the world’s greatest athletes, I received notes immediately following that night, pretty much saying, this happens everywhere. No doubt you’ll be back.”"

Spieth will be fine. He’ll rebound and will likely be in contention on Sunday during the U.S. Open. As he said, it also, more than likely, won’t be the last time he’s in contention to win and makes a mistake. That happens in golf.