All week long at Augusta National, any mention of Jordan Spieth begged for comparisons to the historic accomplishments of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, and the chance to wear the green jacket two years in a row.
Then, suddenly and without warning, Spieth’s storyline took a U-turn as he joined Greg Norman and Rory McIlroy as the superstars who have suffered the most epic and inexplicable meltdowns at the Masters.
That’s not really fair, but then no one has ever contended that fairness plays any kind of role in golf.
The collapses of Norman in 1996 and McIlroy in 2011 were all-day migraines that began with bad tee shots and bogeys that provided unmistakable omens on the first hole.