Game On, Rory, There's A New Kid In Town

I've been in New Orleans for the past three weeks without access to the Golfchannel. Of course, when in New Orleans, the Golfchannel tends to be much less of a consideration than it might be elsewhere where there are fewer distractions. So, I have missed watching much of the golf, at least until the weekend. Furthermore, without the ability to pre-record the golf, I find the seemingly endless commercials driving me away from watching the entire telecast.

Speaking of commercials, that brings us back to the upcoming Masters where they insist upon minimal commercial interruption of their telecasts, just one of many reasons why the Masters is such a treat for armchair golf fans. I can't wait for the action to begin at Augusta. Neither, I'll bet, can young Mr Spieth. Once again, Jordan finds himself leading in Houston. He seems to be getting awfully comfortable with being in the hunt on the weekend.

During the telecast, Johnny Miller and others remarked upon Spieth's putting, including the fact that he makes more putts from fifteen to twenty five feet than anyone on tour; over twenty two percent. If my ears didn't deceive me, after commenting on Spieth's great putting at the conclusion of the round, Johnny not only said Spieth was the best putter in the game, but went so far as to suggest that Jordan was the best player in the game right now. Given his play the past few weeks, I have to agree with that assessment, not that I very often disagree with Johnny. For my money, Johnny is still the best set of eyes announcing these days. He may sometimes ruffle some feathers, but he definitely knows his stuff and he isn't infected with the political correctness virus that seems to have other announcers watering down their comments.

I like Spieth's chances tomorrow. In his comments at the end of the round, Jordan was reminded of the fact that he had failed to seal the deal with leads going in to the last round on three prior attempts. Jordan responded that he is not the same player now. He plans to play the golf course tomorrow, knowing that he will need a sub par round to get it done. He won't be protecting his lead. Whether he wins or not tomorrow is less important, in my mind, than the fact that he is once again going to be in the fray on Sunday.

On March 24th, I picked Jordan to win at Augusta. He may not win tomorrow, and the field definitely has to be the favourite going into next week at the Masters, but it's a pretty safe bet that young Mr Spieth is not going to beat himself. He's very quickly becoming the best player in the game. Game on, Rory, there's a new kid in town.