AUGUSTA, Ga. — He already has won the Masters once and arguably should have won two green jackets.
Yet Jordan Spieth, an unquestioned fan favorite, has remained remarkably under the radar this week and isn’t on anyone’s list of top potential winners.
He joked that no one asked him for an interview until Wednesday.
Spieth attended the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night and called it “one of the best dinners that we’ve had,” praising host Rory McIlroy’s “fantastic” choices.
“Obviously, he completed the [career Grand] Slam and won the Masters, which had been something that had been held over his head by others and probably himself for a long time,” Spieth said. “You obviously saw what it meant to him last year. And then gets to come back and enjoy the perks of what that means when you come back as the defending champion.”
Spieth is missing only a PGA Championship win to complete his career Slam.
He said his game feels “as good as it’s been in a long time coming into this week.”
Brandon Holtz, the 39-year-old real estate agent who’s in the field because of his win in the U.S. Mid-Amateur, played a practice round with Spieth on Wednesday. He played with Tommy Fleetwood on Monday.
“Talk about two icons of the sport,” he said. “At points in time I was just sitting back and watching them play. It’s just cool to see those guys in a different element. You see them on TV, but being able to have those personal communications and those conversations is fun. It’s … special.”
Holtz has struggled with his driver in practice this week because he gave the USGA the one he used to win the Mid-Amateur for its museum.
He expected it to be returned later Wednesday in time for Thursday’s opening round.
“Thanks to the USGA and one of my buddies who kind of made the call, I’ve got my old driver from the Mid-Am coming back,” he said.
He said the time has flown this week.
“We got here Saturday, and I feel like we just got here,” Holtz said. “It’s definitely a surreal moment, just this whole thing. I feel like every day is the perfect day. When I come as a patron, we’re racing to the entry door, racing to the pro shop to get our merch, racing to the course to get our spots.
“It’s nice to just be here and again be in the moment and do things as you want to do them.”
Asked what he’d be doing Wednesday if he wasn’t in Augusta preparing for the Masters, Holtz said, “I’d be in the office with the TV ready to [watch] the Par-3 [Contest]. Yeah, it’s going to be hard to go back to work after being here all week.”
Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters winner, spoke at the Champions Dinner and praised reigning champion McIlroy.
“I didn’t really have anything prepared and it wasn’t planned,” Scott said. “I just spoke about the first time I played with Rory, flashed through his journey. I felt like I think all the champions were watching him trying to win last year, hearts up in their throat living every bit of it with him because they’ve all gone through something like that.
“Rory spoke so well and expressed what it means to him. And I just felt like it was nice to acknowledge that, that we share that with him, and proud to have him in the Masters club.”
