Spieth can't wait for Augusta (to be over), Tiger looks normal in a suit

Spieth: It will be nice once the Masters is over

If you’ve had a bet on Jordan Spieth for Augusta then you probably won’t be overly buoyed by his words last week – he’s looking forward, whatever happens, to the Masters being over for this year.

The 2015 champion led by five going into the back nine but then bogeyed 10 and 11 and then dumped two balls into Rae’s Creek at the next. Cue questions on a weekly basis of what exactly went wrong and how he’s coming to terms with it.

”No matter what happens at this year’s Masters, whether I can grab the jacket or I miss the cut or I finish 30th, it will be nice having the Masters go by,” Spieth said.

“It will be nice once this year’s finished from my point of view, to be brutally honest with you.”

That said Spieth remains optimistic about his chances in the years to come which, given his record of T2-W-T2, isn’t a big surprise.

”It would be best if I could reclaim the jacket but I believe that I’ll be back up there sooner or later, just the way that we play the golf course, the success we’ve had and the comfort level I have there. Whether it happens this year or not, but it will just be nice because that tournament, it’s a 365-day thing. There’s no other Masters.”

Tiger no longer horizontal and holing (nearly) everything

Here’s your weekly Tiger watch ahead of the Masters. Brace yourself…

He’s “trying everything to be able to get back and play”.

Woods was appearing on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ to promote his new book about winning the 1997 Masters and he did what he does best, said enough without telling us anything.

The 14-time major winner hadn’t made a public appearance since pulling out in Dubai and, after all the reports of having to stay horizontal last month, he looked relatively sprightly and his putting stroke looked pretty solid. He even looked relatively normal in a suit.

WATCH: @TigerWoods defeats @michaelstrahan in a putting contest…and fires off his signature fist pump! pic.twitter.com/03YPWlQRr4

— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 20, 2017

As for the prospect of making it to Augusta he said: “God, I hope so. I’m trying. I love that event. It’s meant so much to me in my life. It has so much history and meaning to me, I’d love to get back.

“I need to get back physically. The mind is sharp. I just need to get the body willing to do it. That’s the hard part, is getting the prep time in. I haven’t been able to get as much prep time in, haven’t been able to train like I used to, practise like I used to, so it’s been harder.”

He is still available at 85-1 to win a 15th major which might be the worst bet you’ve ever had a bet on.

Murray gives himself Masters incentive

You probably won’t be familiar with the name Grayson Murray. He’s 24 and plays on the PGA Tour where he’s missed his last five cuts.

On his Tour profile he lists his biggest thrill as playing in the 2013 US Open at Merion – which might all change if the unthinkable was to happen at this week’s Houston Open.

Murray, by his own admission, is a bit of a joker and so he took to Twitter where, in full view of his 9,000 followers, asked ‘professional model’ Lindsey Pelas if she would caddie for him at the Par 3 at Augusta.

Pelas, who, for some reason, has a somewhat significantly higher following at 360,000, said yes.

Now all Murray has to do is win in Houston and Ms Pelas will be donning the white overalls down in Georgia. And should this happen – it won’t, not in a million years – it might be oddest story the Masters will ever have seen.

Hatton fails to read the rules

Tyrrell Hatton will make his Masters debut in just over a week and he will head there after a moment of madness rather than the prospect of making it through to the knockout stages of the WGC-Match Play.

Hatton had just lost to Rafa Cabrera Bello so, given the rubbish format of the week, the Englishman, the Spaniard and Charles Howell III headed to extra holes.

Hatton hit his approach to 10 feet, missed with the chance to go through and then inadvertently moved the ball as he addressed the tap in. He called a penalty, which was two shots, on himself and knocked it in.

But a local rule that Hatton hadn’t read stated that he could have replaced it under no penalty.

“The referee came over and asked if I’d replaced the ball. I didn’t, I just knocked it in,” Hatton said. “He told me if I had replaced the ball it wouldn’t have been classed as a stroke. To be honest, I didn’t know the rule. I wasn’t really thinking at that stage. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.”

Fisher back at the Masters

As it stands there will be 11 Englishmen at Augusta after Ross Fisher joined his good friend Hatton in the field.

Needing to reach the last eight of the Match Play, Fisher, who began the week as the World No. 53, made it through by holing a bunker shot at the 15th to see off Bubba Watson. It will be Fisher’s fifth appearance at the Masters but his first for five years.

Fisher then went out to the surprise package of the week Hideto Tanihara and the Japanese putting sensation will also return to Magnolia Lane after reaching the last four.