Jordan Spieth's Masters debut came 10 years ago, and it hasn't been boring at Augusta for him since

It’s been a decade since Jordan Spieth arrived at Augusta National Golf Club. 

He has one green jacket, six top-5 finishes, and layers of scar tissue.

“If I could win one tournament the rest of my career,” said Spieth, who needs only the PGA Championship to complete the career Grand Slam, “it would be the Masters. 

“There’s just a feeling I get when I come to Augusta.”

Spieth went quiet on the other end of the phone.

The conversation had bounced around for 21 minutes, from winning in 2015 to the horrors the following April. 

The 12th hole. 

The double splash.

“If I didn’t win in ’15, I would have won in 2016,” Jordan said bluntly. “I would have been less lazy.”

Spieth again went silent, then corrected himself.

“Lazy’s not the right word,” he said. “It’s an itch. I had more of an itch in 2015 because of what happened in 2014.”

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The sun had set as Hays Myers pulled into the rental home of Jay Danzi, Jordan Spieth’s agent. It was April 10, 2016.

“I walked in and Jordan was sitting there,” said Myers, one of Spieth’s closest friends from Dallas Jesuit. “I had never seen that look on anybody’s face.”

A year earlier, Myers — along with Eric Leyendecker and Blaine Simmons — had arrived at Danzi’s rental before Spieth. The three childhood buddies paced the driveway until Jordan arrived, exiting a Mercedes SUV wearing green.

When asked what the group had for a celebratory dinner, Myers said, “There wasn’t much eating.”

As for the party?

“That’s off the record,” said Myers.

Twelve months later, nobody ate again.

“The details from that day are still so vivid,” Myers said of 2016. “The 12th hole, the whole thing. I remember it so clear.

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“We always stand at Amen Corner. We never try to find a seat. As Jordan was about to hit, I remember the scoreboard operator turning Danny Willett’s number, showing that he birdied (No. 14). There was a gasp over Amen Corner. It was almost like, ‘Oh, no.’ And then Jordan hit.”

Two holes earlier, Spieth walked to No. 10 tee box at 7-under; Willett was five behind.

Thirty minutes later, as Spieth arrived at No. 12, they were separated by one.

Few people had a better view of Jordan than Smylie Kaufman, Spieth’s playing partner. 

“I three-putted four times the first nine holes, so I was out of contention,” Kaufman said. “But walking to No. 10, I thought to myself, ‘This is pretty cool. I’m paired with the person who’s about to win the Masters.’”

Despite being friends, Kaufman admits that he and Spieth conversed minimally that round. But they did have an exchange after Jordan used 7 shots at No. 12, and Kaufman made a birdie 2.

“We’re walking to No. 13 and Jordan goes, ‘Is it me or you?’” Kaufman recalled. “When he made that joke, I didn’t really know how to respond. I just said, ‘It’s me.’”

Reflecting on the 12th hole, Kaufman, now a television analyst, still questions Spieth’s decision to drop 80 yards from the hole.

“Jordan was pitching the ball stupid good all day,” Smylie said. “In my opinion, he should have dropped the ball next to the water and pitch it up.

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“People think you get perfect lies at Augusta, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes the ball sits down, and the last thing you want is to have to scoop it up.”

When Jordan won the tournament in 2015, he joined the Masters Club — the coined title for all past champions — but a year later when his five-stroke runaway became a four-shot deficit in 44 minutes, his circle became more exclusive. 

Only two competitors had ever won a jacket, while also sculpting a collapse so colossal that it overshadowed the eventual victor. Ben Hogan (victories in 1951, ’53 and collapse in 1946) and Arnold Palmer (wins in 1958, ’60, ’62, ’64 and collapses in 1959, 1961). 

That was the list. 

A half-century later, Spieth joined when the red seven that flagged his name after nine holes became a red six after No. 10; a red five after 11; a red one after 12.

Reflecting on 2016, what remains prominent to Kaufman was the aftermath of No. 12. Now trailing Willett by four, Spieth birdied Nos. 13 and 15 to instill hope.

“I’ve been to a lot of college football games,” the LSU grad said. “That’s all I can compare it to. When Jordan hit his tee shot on No. 16, that roar. I still hear it. It went from dead silent to deafening, and I’m like, ‘Oh, crap. Now I have to hit.’”

Spieth’s birdie attempt on No. 16 slid high. Jordan bogeyed No. 17, parred 18, and lost by three.

“On 18 green, he grinded so hard over that three footer to finish second,” Smylie said of Spieth. “Then we went to (the scorer’s building) and that’s when it changed. That’s when it hit him.”

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Following the 2015 Masters, Spieth packed his green blazer to Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage. It was his sixth tournament in seven weeks.

At home in Dallas, his roommate, Alex Moon, had recorded each round of the 2015 Masters, and planned a celebration for when the 21-year-old returned.

“I’m on the couch and Jordan walks in with a hanging bag,” said Moon, who played on the University of Texas golf team with Spieth. “I said, ‘Hold up, I’m trying it on.’”

Alex galloped around Preston Hollow in green, and told Jordan his welcome home party had been decided. The two would get sandwiches from Eatzi's Market and watch seven hours of tape with Jordan providing shot-by-shot coverage. 

But as Jordan and Alex walked into Eatzi’s, nothing felt the same. Eyes latched to Jordan. Customers wanted photos, autographs, while four businessmen rose from their table for hugs.

“These men had to be worth millions,” Moon said. “They were drooling over him. It was right then at Eatzi’s when I thought, ‘Damn, things will never be the same.’”

Augusta hadn’t changed Jordan — but it had altered his life. At 21 years old, he was the second youngest Masters Champion. 

Jordan’s fame had multiplied overnight, as did media requests and social media followers. But for Spieth, one aspect shrank from April 2015 to April 2016 — his itch.

Now, a decade after his Masters introduction, Jordan will arrive at Augusta National as a 30-year-old, father of two.

As for his itch?

“The itch is as high as it’s ever been,” Spieth said. “It equals how I felt after 2014.”