During the first round of the Sony Open on Thursday, Jordan Spieth was on top of his game. He fired a six-under 64, shared the first-round lead with Chris Kirk and Tom Montgomery and seemed like the clear favorite to win. The second round, though was much different.
Kirk fired a 65 on Friday to take the lead going into the weekend. Montgomery is only a shot behind him heading into Saturday after his second-round 66. Spieth went the other way. He was at even par for his round heading into the eighth hole. He bogeyed that hole, as well as the three after, and never got on track. Another bogey on No. 15 put Spieth at one-under for the tournament. That’s where he finished and with that, Spieth missed the cut by one shot.
Naturally, a first-round leader missing the cut is not something you expect to see very often. PGA Tour Communications noted that Spieth was “the first 18-hole leader/co-leader to do so since Matt Every at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.”
First-round co-leader Jordan Spieth misses the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, becoming the first 18-hole leader/co-leader to do so since Matt Every at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) January 14, 2023
A lot of people weighed in.
Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated noted the stark difference over the two days, tweeting “64 to 75.”
Rock Bottom Golf, meanwhile tweeted “Golf giveth and golf taketh”
From 64 to 75 https://t.co/P41RlHEqxq
— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) January 14, 2023
Golf giveth and golf taketh 😳 https://t.co/1cmT3PFQ3x
— Rock Bottom Golf (@RockBottomGolf) January 14, 2023
On one hand, Spieth’s Friday round was shocking. A first-round leader missing the cut is rare, especially when it’s a golfer with Spieth’s accomplishments.
On the other hand, it’s not too far off brand — something even Spieth acknowledged after Thursday’s round. And while he didn’t predict Friday’s struggles, he did foreshadow them.
“Jordan Spieth described his entire career today in one sentence,” Kyle Porter of CBS Sports tweeted. “I believe I can shoot 5 or 6 under each day out here. Not to say that that means it’ll happen, but there are other times I would be sitting there going, ‘How do I hold this s**t together,’ to be honest. Seriously.”
Adam Luckett of Kentucky Sports radio and Jeff Eisenband of PGA Tour Live had similar takes, both pointing out the extreme nature of Spieth’s game.
“My goodness this is so Spieth it hurts,” Luckett said.
“On this date in Jordan Spieth history…” Eisenband tweeted.
My goodness this is so Spieth it hurts. https://t.co/JAsTiXI6y0
— Adam Luckett (@AdamLuckettKSR) January 14, 2023
On this date in Jordan Spieth history… https://t.co/g2sEV1exde
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) January 14, 2023
[PGA Tour Communications, Kyle Porter]
