In the last 30 years, Tiger Woods has led the Masters after nine separate rounds. He has four wins in that span so that's four Sundays he's led after along with five other times (according to Justin Ray). Guess who now is within one of the 40-year-old Woods? That would be 22-year-old Jordan Spieth, who has now led or co-led after eight rounds at Augusta (and he's only played 12!).
Spieth co-led once in 2014 after the third round then led outright for the next seven (all of 2015 plus the first three of 2016) before faltering at the end. Still, that's an unbelievable achievement for somebody his age.
There's also this stat after Spieth finished T2 at this year's event.
Last 2 players with 5 straight top-4 finishes in majors:@TigerWoods 2005-06@JordanSpieth 2015-16
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) April 13, 2016
And if you want the full Augusta comparison, here are the first 12 rounds there for each golfer with an average finish.
Tiger Woods
1997: 70-66-65-69
1998: 71-72-72-70
1999: 72-72-70-75
Avg. finish: 9.0 (one win)
Jordan Spieth
2014: 71-70-70-72
2015: 64-66-70-70
2016: 66-74-73-73
Avg. finish: 1.66 (one win)
"I know we're in a position now where we're actually maybe ahead of the curve age-wise," said Spieth back in January. "But, boy, it would be hard to believe I could be compared to him the entire course of a career. I hope that's the case. I'm certainly going to strive for it. But what he has done for the game of golf is something special and I just don't feel I deserve to necessarily be compared to him right now, but maybe I do. I don't know. Personally I don't think so."
So yeah, Spieth is tracking Tiger big time. Both in his career and at this tournament. Only time will reveal if he can keep it up, but the trajectory hasn't wavered in three years.
