Jordan Spieth during the final round of The 2024 Sentry. | Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Jordan Spieth played well and contended on Sunday at The Sentry, but a set of bad breaks sealed his fate late.
Jordan Spieth had a great round going during the final round of The Sentry.
And then his 332-yard drive on the par-5 15th landed in a deep divot just off the fairway. His ball also came to rest right next to Harris English’s ball, thus creating a unique situation.
English played first. Then, Spieth placed his ball back in the spot where it came to rest.
“I had to place it into his divot, so it was even deeper,” Spieth explained.
This unfortunate circumstance took eagle out of play and was a harbinger of things to come for the three-time major champion.
On the very next hole, the par-4 16th, Spieth launched his drive into the right fairway bunker. But instead of his drive rolling back into the flat part of the trap, his ball buried up against the lip.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Jordan Spieth plays his second shot on the 16th hole during the final round of The 2024 Sentry.
Making par out of there would have been a miracle, as Spieth was forced to chip out sideways. He subsequently could not get up and down from 73 yards and settled for a bogey.
“On the 16th, I missed my line. Otherwise, it could have been; I should have had a pretty good look at birdie,” Spieth admitted.
“I would have had less in than what I had for my third if I hit you my drive where I wanted to.”
Spieth’s dropped shot at the 16th eradicated his chances of winning.
Then, at the 17th, a beautiful downhill par-4, Spieth’s tee shot landed in another divot.
“Out here, balls funnel into the same spots a lot; it’s not uncommon to be in divots,” Spieth explained.
“It kind of stunk that it was three holes in a row, but the plug is what cost me a full shot. I still played the others just fine.”
Indeed, Spieth played a great shot at the par-5 15th and ultimately made a birdie. That got him to 27-under for the tournament and within striking distance of Chris Kirk and Sahith Theegala.
But with a bogey at 16 and then another birdie at 18, Spieth finished at 27-under overall. He carded an 8-under 65 on Sunday to finish two shots behind Kirk, who won The Sentry for the first time.
“In the back of my mind, I knew it was going to be a really tough challenge,” Spieth said.
“I just had to be totally mistake-free and steal a couple extra… If you told me 8-under at the beginning of the day, I would have thought [Kirk] probably betters 6-under, but playing with the lead in the last group, maybe 8 was in a playoff—that was kind of where my head was at. There was just some phenomenal golf played everywhere.”
Indeed, Kirk and Theegala both played well.
But so, too, did Spieth—just a couple of bad breaks did him in. Spieth’s solo third finish at Kapalua marks his fourth career top-3 finish in Maui. He last did so in 2017, when he tied for third.
He will next tee it up at Pebble Beach in February for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the second Signature Event of the 2024 season.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
