Commentary: Jordan Spieth gets a do-over — one year after his Masters collapse

A year ago Sunday, Jordan Spieth strolled to the 10th tee at Augusta National with a five-shot lead — and seemingly without a care in the world.

“Spieth has to shoot left-handed to lose this one,” a fan commented after Spieth drained a 21-foot birdie putt on No. 9.

Fast-forward to Tuesday. On a gorgeous sunny day, Spieth stepped up to the 12th tee box and eyed the shallowest green on the course.

He striped his shot, a draw that settled less than two feet from the cup.

“I really could have used that one 12 months ago,” he said to a mass of onlookers, drawing chuckles.

At 23, Spieth already has won 12 times. He tied the Masters record with an 18-under performance in 2015 and was the last man standing two months later at the Chambers Bay U.S. Open.

He’s equally popular with the kids who stroll around courses in his signature head-to-toe Under Armour attire and the older set who admire his kindness and respect for history. He’s tight with his family, including brother Steven, who will caddy in Wednesday’s Par-3 Contest if it does not get washed out.

Spieth has it all. But what he wouldn’t give for one mulligan …

Spieth selected a nine-iron last year for a shot he hoped would go 152 yards at No. 12. He tried to play a fade, but the shot bounced weakly into the bank and settled into Rae’s Creek. He made his drop at 80 yards but hit it fat, depositing a second ball into the water. When the carnage finally ceased, he’d carded a quadruple-bogey seven.

“It is one of many tournaments I’ve lost given a certain performance on a hole or a stretch of holes,” Spieth said Tuesday. “It happens in this game.”

Here’s what he said next: “I’m excited about the opportunity ahead to really tear this golf course up. I have the opportunity … until the day I get a letter saying, ‘We would appreciate if you sat this one out.’”

Spieth laughed.

He knew the event was coming, his pre-Masters meeting with the media, when he would have to address his worst moment in spikes.

In the months leading up, he made birdie on No. 12 during a practice round in December, saying he had exorcised his “demon.”

He also said: “No matter what happens at this year’s Masters, whether I can grab the jacket back or I miss the cut or I finish 30th, it will be nice having this Masters go by. The Masters lives on for a year. It brings a non-golf audience into golf. And it will be nice once, this year’s finished, to be brutally honest with you.”

A nice thought, but probably unrealistic.

Rory McIlroy, for example, still gets asked about his 2011 Masters collapse — a triple-bogey on No. 10 that led to a final-round 80. Two months later, McIlroy overwhelmed Congressional, winning the U.S. Open by eight shots.

“It’s a nice storyline for you guys and for golf, Jordan coming back after what happened on 12,” McIlroy said Tuesday. “But I can assure you, Jordan will be fine. I’m sure what happened last year won’t enter his mind.

“Look, it’s tough to get over. Coming back here in 2012, of course your mind does go back to the previous year when you’re thinking what could have been. But you quickly snap out of it because this golf course and this tournament require the utmost concentration and focus.”

Spieth called the Masters his favorite tournament because of the enthusiastic crowds, a layout that challenges his body and mind and the length to which tournament organizers go to eliminate riffraff.

“It’s pure golf,” he said. “When we get to the driving range, it’s just myself, my caddie, my coach. There’s nobody else to pull you in any direction.”

Spieth has won a green jacket. McIlroy still needs one to complete his career grand slam. So his sympathy for what Spieth endured last year has its limits.

“Jordan can console himself,” McIlroy said, “by opening up his wardrobe and seeing one hanging there.”

tgreenstein@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @TeddyGreenstein