It’s pretty obvious to state that the Spieth Masters Meltdown is going to be talked about for years, decades and maybe even centuries, who knows… He was (and to some extent still is) Augusta’s Golden Child, a seemingly invincible young kid who was able to glide around the fairways and greens with relative ease, while others around him had more or less accepted the fact that they were playing second fiddle. All it took was three holes on Sunday to put a major dent in the 22-year-olds quest for Masters history. And now he is human again…

The 2017 Masters will be on Spieth’s mind for the rest of the year. Yes, he has 3 more Majors, Ryder Cup, Olympics and numerous other PGA Tour events to compete in first, but everywhere he goes between now and then, his collapse will be mentioned, whether it is in the media centre or just a passing comment around the course, there will be whispers, and he will hear them. Every time it is mentioned, he will become more determined to redeem himself. He is still the greatest player in the world at this present time and this will be proven again in the coming months.

So fast forward to April 6th, 2017 and the first round of next year’s Masters. There will surely not be a more determined player to make amends than Spieth. He will be desperate to get to that back nine and prove himself once again. In saying this, a bold prediction is that the young Texan will pick up the next three Majors and arrive at Augusta looking for four in a row. I’m betting his practice routine will be stepped up to a whole new level of intensity from this week onwards.

You could see the change in body language by Spieth from initial dejection walking off the green and presenting the green jacket to Danny Willett to a slightly more positive look of acceptance when he once again had to present the green jacket in front of the public eye. Dejection-Disappointment-Acceptance-Determination-Drive-Success: this is the road Spieth is currently on, which will lead him back to his best in no time.

His swing clearly needs to be looked at and his next PGA tournament will be a big test of his character: my prediction is he will win by 5+ shots and be back on top of the world within the next month.

The memories of the 12th hole may continue to haunt him, but given time, he will look back and remember what he learnt from this capitulation. He’s got another few decades of competitive golf ahead of him and one might forget that his Masters record so far is:

2014: 2nd                       2015: Win                         2016: T-2nd

Judging by that trend, he will be the 2017 Masters Champion and who dares to doubt this…?