AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The first round of the 2021 Masters provided patrons with a fun day, but a blase leaderboard left them hoping for fireworks on Friday. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth obliged, combining for 11 birdies and just two bogeys as Augusta National continued to blast some of the best players in the world into the ether.
Thomas (-4) shot a 67 in Round 2 to get within three of Justin Rose's lead; a bogey on the last kept him from sliding into second. Spieth (-5), playing in the group behind Thomas, usurped him late with a birdie at No. 17 and par at the last to shoot 68 and get within two of Rose.
There are endless possible combinations for two-player duals on the weekend, but few are as compelling as a Thomas-Spieth war that could unfold at Augusta (pending what the rest of the field accomplishes). The pair of generationally great players has combined to win 26 times on the PGA Tour with four majors and a Players Championship. Neither has even reached age 28. Now they have a chance to meet on Sunday for the biggest prize of them all.
Spieth vs. Thomas, Round 2
| Started | Birdies | Bogeys | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Spieth | -1 (T8) | 5 | 1 | -5 (T4) |
Thomas | +1 (T20) | 6 | 1 | -4 (T6) |
The careers of Spieth and Thomas have often intersected, but since becoming professionals, they have not frequently intertwined. For three or four years, Spieth was clearly Thomas' superior, a model for what Thomas could eventually become. For the last three or four years, it's been all J.T. He was a model for what Spieth was trying to regain. In the middle was the magical year of 2017 when they both cashed in. The pair combined for eight wins, including the last two major championships of the season.
Now it seems as if their professional lives are crashing together once again at an interesting moment in their careers when they have more depth than they've ever had before. Even though both won prolifically at young ages, they have waged internal battles over the past few years.
Thomas got popped early in the year after uttering a slur at the Tournament of Champions. He seemed genuinely remorseful and later said he had been attending counseling to address some of what's been going on in his life. Then he captured the first Players Championship of his career.
Spieth's feud has been mostly with his swing on the course. He emerged last week as an emotional winner of the Texas Open, his first victory since capturing the 2017 Open Championship after months and months (and months!) of explaining how his game was improving even though it never seemed to be improving.
Thomas and Spieth are not just wunderkinds anymore. They're adults who have endured struggles. They are more than just caricatures, which makes them far more interesting than ever before.
The most overplayed trope in all of golf is that Thomas and Spieth grew up together as best friends. There is perhaps a nugget of truth in there as they did spend many junior golf days together as two of the best players in the country. Even this week, they played practice rounds together ahead of the main event.
But the real narrative here is that they are two of the best golfers of their generation, and they are two of the three best iron players in the world taking on one of the toughest tracks of the last few years. Augusta National seems down to tussle on a nasty weekend, and there is nobody better prepared to do so than these two.
"With forecasted winds, when there's very little friction on the greens, the wind affects the ball more than you think," said Spieth. "It just gets very difficult to make a lot of putts. That's why the scores will be, I think, more challenging over the weekend if we don't get any rain."
Thomas and Spieth have shared plenty over the years: the same team room at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, the title of No. 1 player in the world. Together, they have combined to win the career grand slam. But they cannot share the green jacket that awaits the winner of this golf tournament at the end of the week. That will only be worn by one man.
That exclusivity makes the nature of their relationship, the quality of golf they are playing and the high-stakes 36 holes that are about to unfold all the more compelling. Because for all the intersecting these two all-time trajectories have done, they have never battled on a Sunday for a major championship.
Perhaps we do not see that battle this week, either, but after two rounds of tremendous golf from both Spieth and Thomas at Augusta National, it sure seems like that's where we're headed.
