PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Jordan Spieth’s first three rounds at The Players Championship have served as a perfect metaphor for his brief, yet sky-rocketing career: It has been a steady ride with palpable evidence of greatness.
It has led to Spieth, the 20-year-old next-big-thing in the game sharing the tournament lead with Martin Kaymer at 12-under par entering Sunday’s final round. Sergio Garcia and John Senden are just three shots back at 9-under while Gary Woodland, Matt Jones and George McNeill are at 8-under.
Spieth’s third round — a gutsy 1-under-par 71 — was also a mini-metaphor to a career furiously gathering momentum en route to stardom.
“This is a position I wanted to get into in another big tournament,’’ Spieth said, referring to his runner-up finish at the Masters last month when he managed just an even-par 72 in the final round.
“Augusta left me feeling a little hungry for it again, and here we are: I have an opportunity to kind of really draw back on that round and the positives, the negatives and everything in between and go out there [Sunday] and try and play the same way I played the first two rounds.’’
Methodically playing his way around the treacherous TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course, Spieth played with the patience of a player with 10 or more years of experience, making par after par.
On No. 2, Spieth left a 12-foot birdie putt so close to going into the cup it was peeking over the edge. On No. 9, his 14-foot birdie putt came to a halt two inches short of the cup. On No. 10, his four-foot birdie putt lipped out.
Spieth carded his lone birdie of the day on No. 11 then his swing became uncharacteristically loose, forcing him to coax his round into the house by making fantastic par saves on Nos. 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18.
After missing the green on the par-3 13th, Spieth lipped out his birdie chip and was left with a tap in. After missing the green on 14, he got up and down from an awkward stance in a greenside bunker.
On 15, after missing the fairway in the left rough, Spieth hit his approach onto the green and two-putted. On 16, after hooking his drive into the left rough and leaving his third shot in the greenside rough, he chipped to four feet and made the par putt.
Finally, on 18, Spieth drove into the right rough, had to lay up on his second shot, pitched his third 13 feet past the hole and drained that putt to preserve his remarkable streak of 54 holes without a bogey this week. That last par-save putt, coupled with Kaymer’s nine-foot missed par putt, left the two tied for the lead.
One more strong round from Spieth, who posted 67 and a 66 the first two day, likely will make him The Players champion. More guile like what he showed on that par-save putt on 18 will help, too.
“I had an opportunity to play three rounds without a bogey, it was really ugly coming in, but I did it,’’ Spieth said. “If you told me I was going to hit it like that before the round started, I’d have signed for 1-under and said, ‘Thank you,’ and walked away.’’
Dating back to his last event, the RBC Heritage, Spieth has played his last 69 holes in completion without making a bogey or worse.
“It’s very tough to beat those guys that don’t make mistakes,’’ Kaymer said. “It seems like he doesn’t make many mistakes.’’
Kaymer also said his duel with Spieth “felt a bit like a Ryder Cup match.’’
The German said he knows what he faces Sunday: Virtually every fan on the grounds rooting for Spieth.
“He’s one of the best players out here right now, so I think he deserves at much attention as possible because he’s a young player, very mature and I hope a long career ahead of him,’’ Kaymer said. “If there’s less attention on me right now, I’ll take it.’’