Championship Sunday at the Masters has always been one of the most insane and unpredictable days in all of sports, as the back-9 includes epic runs and depressing collapses that go a long way in determining who leaves Augusta wearing the green jacket.
And after last year’s winner, Jordan Spieth, became part of history yesterday after blowing his lead by shooting a quadruple bogey on the 12th hole—costing himself a chance at back-to-back Masters’ wins and all but handing the tourney to Danny Willett—18-time major champ Jack Nicklaus wrote the 22-year-old Spieth an inspiring note on Twitter to encourage him to overcome the adversity and to keep his head up.
I think the whole golfing world feels for Jordan Spieth. He had a chance to do something truly special and… https://t.co/v4XtUhqwbI
— Jack Nicklaus (@jacknicklaus) April 11, 2016
Here’s what the entire message read:
I think the whole golfing world feels for Jordan Spieth. He had a chance to do something truly special and something very few have done before—and be the youngest to accomplish that—and he just didn’t pull through. My heart goes out to him for what happened, but I know that Jordan is a young man who will certainly learn from this experience and there will be some good that comes out of this for him. He’s a wonderful talent and a wonderful young man.
I’ve watched Danny Willett play on television a few times and when I’ve seen him swing the golf club, I have thought, “Well, this young man looks like he’s a pretty darn good player.” He had moved himself up to 12th in the world, so he’s obviously done something right and was playing very good golf coming into Augusta. What impressed me so much is that when he realized he was in a position to win, he finished it—and that’s the mark of a champion: To finish a good round; give yourself an opportunity to win; and when the other fellow doesn’t finish, you’ve got to be there. Danny Willett was and kudos to him. What an amazing couple of weeks for him—from becoming a new father to becoming the latest Masters winner. My congratulations go to Danny for what he did.
Given the fact that Spieth, himself, said that the loss would be one that could take a while to get over, the letter from Nicklaus is a reminder to have a short memory and move on—so, hopefully, Jordan takes the advice and gets back to ballin’ out on the golf course like he always has.