For Spieth, who talks in plural, a singular Masters round

By Art Spander

AUGUSTA, Ga. — He speaks in the plural, as if what Jordan Spieth does in golf, that most individual of games, is like football or basketball, with handoffs, screens or other group efforts. Spieth has a teacher and caddy, certainly, yet only he drives the balls or sinks the putts.

Spieth’s frequent use of “we” in talking about his brilliant 66 Thursday, when he began the quest for a second straight Masters, brings to mind the comment of Mark Twain, who contended: “Only kings, presidents, editors and people with tapeworms have the right to use editorial ‘we.’“

Twain also was the man who said, “Golf is a good walk spoiled,” a viewpoint destroyed by the manner in which Mr. Spieth plays. So Jordan’s choice of words become inconsequential when judged against his choice of clubs and his scores.

Having won the 2015 Masters with a 72-hole score of 270 (18 under par) that tied the tournament record set by Tiger Woods in 1997, Spieth was on course — Augusta National, that is — to become the first back-to-back winner since Woods in 2001 and 2002.

“We must stay patient with what we’re doing,” said Spieth of a philosophy and strategy he makes seem like governmental planning or a kingly degree. Twain would cringe, perhaps, but he’d delight in the round with six birdies and no bogeys.

“We know how to win this golf tournament,” Spieth added.

We — uh, he — definitely does. And other tournaments as well. In 2015, Spieth became the first golfer in 43 years, since Jack Nicklaus, to win the first two majors. Then he missed a playoff for the third, the British Open, by a shot.

“We believed in our process,” said Spieth, “and if the putts are dropping, then hopefully it goes our way.”

Meaning his way. meaning the way of young man who won’t be 23 until July.

Spieth does get plenty of advice and encouragement from his caddy, the onetime intermediate school teacher Michael Greller. And there has been more than a decade of instruction from Cameron McCormick of Brook Hollow Country Club in Dallas. Still, no matter how you practice and what you’re told, you — not we — swing the clubs and make the birdies or, rare as they were for Spieth on Day One of the 80th Masters, bogeys.

Great golfers have greater egos, because they must. Self-belief is a requisite in a sport where nature and opponents over which one has no control can beat you and beat you down. Golfers lose confidence as fast as they can lose a ball in a pond. Spieth, however, appears wonderfully humble. If we’re impressed with Jordan 
Spieth, he doesn’t act impressed with himself.

On Tuesday, in a pre-tournament interview, Spieth was explaining how “cool” it was to enter the champions locker room upstairs in the Augusta National clubhouse — the room restricted to winners — and see his name on a plaque and find he was sharing a locker with the immortal Arnold Palmer. “A pleasant surprise," he described it.

It’s no surprise that Spieth is atop the leader board. He knows the course. He knows his game. He also knows the unpredictability of golf, where a gust of wind — and it was blowing on Thursday — or a bizarre bounce can affect a score either positively or negatively.

“I would have signed for two under (Thursday),” said Spieth, this time sticking to first person, “and not even played the round, knowing the conditions that were coming up, Got a lot out of the round with what I felt was average ball-striking. Just scored the ball extremely well, which is something I’ve been struggling with this season.”

A year ago, Spieth began with an eight-under-par 64 and never backed up or backed away.

“The way I was playing," he said, "I would say I was better a year ago, but the score that came out of the round may have been impressive today ... so I’m just very pleased with it.”

Spieth had a chance in 2014, then had a victory in 2015, and someone wondered if there is an innate comfort level when he tees up on a historic course deep in the Georgia pines.

“The fact I didn’t make any bogeys, with the kind of loose — I just didn’t feel confident after the first couple mid-iron shots I hit. The good news out here is so much of it is feel-based, where you have so many different slopes you’re hitting off. It’s most important what the ball does at impact, and I felt like I was still here.

“I enjoy this tournament more than anywhere else. It’s easy for us. We don’t have many distractions in our preparation.”

That would be us as in Jordan Spieth, a man without tapeworms but who excels at golf with a kingly manner.