Clippings: The 2015 Masters Ledes

Battling Go-Go at 38,000 feet (and losing), so, if you see any good ones I missed please post...it's not like there are that many game story openers left.

Doug Ferguson for the Associated Press:

Jordan Spieth tapped in his final putt to cap off a record performance and bent over in relief. He just as easily could have been taking a bow.

This was a Masters for the ages.

Steve DiMeglio for the USA Today:

As a kid growing up in Dallas, Jordan Spieth would haul the lawn mower out to the front yard and create a makeshift putting green.

On many days and usually into the night, with his brother, Steven, in the gallery, Spieth would face a putt and imagine it was to win the Masters.
In a far different place, on a far bigger green, Spieth's dream came true.

David Westin in the Augusta Chronicle:

Jordan Spieth proved to be one tough Texan to wrestle the lead from in the 79th Masters Tournament, going wire-to-wire to win at Augusta National Golf Club in dominating fashion.

Karen Crouse for the New York Times:

The University of Texas men’s golf team played in a competition in California over the weekend without Jordan Spieth, who helped the Longhorns win the national title three years ago as a freshman.

In a different era, Spieth would have been winding down his senior year, perhaps with a shot at the individual N.C.A.A. crown. But in this warp-speed world of golf, in which the top-ranked woman is 17 years old and three of the top five men in the new world rankings will be under 28, Spieth’s talent placed him on an accelerated track.

Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Justin Rose and top-ranked Rory McIlroy, who have a combined 24 major championships, all tried, but no one could catch the 21-year-old Spieth at the Masters on Sunday.

Dave Shedloski in Golf World opened this way:

They’ll have Texas barbecue at next year’s Masters. Doubt it will be as hot as the kid ordering it up.

Kevin Garside in the Independent.

The test was always going to be about character, mentality, headspace. Jordan Spieth can play golf all right, but could he get his ball around Augusta National on the last day of the Masters? The question all America and one Englishman, Justin Rose, was asking.
The answer was emphatic.

James Corrigan for the Telegraph:

Uncatchable, unmatchable. Jordan Spieth marched to his first Masters title on Sunday night, breaking records and emulating legends as he went.

Mike McAllister at PGATour.com:

You want to tap the brakes and avoid getting swept up in the moment.  Your mind says not to give in, not to make knee-jerk declarations of greatness, despite what you’ve witnessed the past four days. Leave the overhype to others. You’d rather sell perspective, not headlines.
But damn, it’s difficult.

Jordan Spieth just won the Masters at age 21, and that’s merely scratching the surface of this story.

Derek Lawrenson for the Daily Mail:

One day they will write books about Jordan Spieth's nerveless brilliance at the 79th Masters. They're already rewriting the one comprising the tournament's records.

At an enthralled Augusta National, the 21 year old Texan's exquisite mastery and immaculate composure continued right to the end. We all know the cliché about how the Masters starts on the back nine on Sunday.

Hank Gola for the New York Daily News:

He’s 21 years old. Really. And not since another 21-year-old named Tiger Woods has anyone this young solved the riddle of Augusta National as convincingly as Jordan Spieth.

Mark Cannizzaro for the New York Post:

Jordan Spieth had a thought that got his attention, like a flickering light bulb, late Saturday afternoon. He was determined to carry it out. And so he did.

“I walked out of this interview room saying, ‘I want to walk back in there really late [Sunday] and sit there with the jacket on,’ ’’ Spieth said after winning the Masters by four shots Sunday. “I watched for a lot of years guys finish on 18, I watched it firsthand last year, and watched guys come into this room with the jacket on and always dreamt of doing the same.’’

So there he sat early Sunday evening, before a packed interview room, wearing the Green Jacket as the 2015 Masters champion.