Rozner: Spieth making name for himself in Masters

As long as there is golf and as long as there is hope for something better, the world will continue to search for the “Next Tiger Woods.”

This is, after all, what we do.

But it is unfair to all those who come next, just as it has been unfair to try to find the next Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali.

We try and try and it just doesn't happen, hanging titles on those who can't carry the burden.

The reality is no one again will put together a 10-year run like Woods had from 1999-2009, when he tore apart the world golf tours and demolished fields week after week after week.

It's not going to happen again.

Yet, the title of the “Next Tiger Woods” is handed out over and over, only to see those players look human in comparison.

It's understandable. It's hard to win once a year on the PGA Tour, let alone back-to-back or five in a row as Woods has done so many times.

Woods had three-year spans when he won 42 percent of his starts. Justin Rose told me after the Ryder Cup that winning once in a year makes it a great year, because it's just so very hard to do.

There is no sport where consistency is so difficult to locate, so maddening to hang onto. Forget about week-to-week or round-to-round. Hole-to-hole consistency is a mystery for even the greatest who have ever played.

Rory McIlroy has been the “Next Tiger Woods” for five years and what he has found is that living up to the impossible is, well, impossible.

Just this week, he was charged with completing the career grand slam — something Woods once did in 10 months — and the pressure was obviously too much to bear.

“I've just hit so many bad shots the last two days,” McIlroy said after shooting a front-nine 40 on Friday at Augusta. “On the back, I was just trying to feel a little better going into the weekend.”

Aside the ninth green Friday, McIlroy leaned on his putter and pondered his Masters tournament. He was 2 over and 16 shots back of leader Jordan Spieth. The “Next Tiger Woods” then missed a 2-footer for bogey, fell outside the cut line and 17 shots out of first.

McIlroy proceeded to shoot 63 over his next 18 holes and jumped onto the first page of the leaderboard Saturday morning, but cooled off and shot even par coming home Saturday.

“That's golf,” McIlroy said later, after he had rallied. “We're all constantly searching.”

Which brings us to Spieth, the 21-year-old phenom who posted the lowest 36-hole score to par (-14) in major championship history Friday. Yes, at 21, he was 14-under par.

Never been done before. Ever.

On Saturday, after a double on 17, Spieth made an unthinkable up-and-down on 18 to save par and post 16 under, the lowest 54-hole score ever at Augusta.

Yet another record for the kid.

And it's the unremarkable way he plays that is so remarkable. Spieth has the maturity of Jack Nicklaus, the brains of Seve Ballesteros and desire to win that made Woods so intimidating.

He fears nothing or anyone, even while playing the toughest course in the world, in the most prestigious event and against the best players on the planet, and he displays a class and demeanor that belies his age.

Spieth plays like he has no past and no future, giving him the ability to stay in the moment, easier said than done but something that is essential to success on the golf course.

He does nothing in any one facet of the game that makes him stand out, except that he places the ball around the course where it suits his game best, and then he makes 20-foot putts with the nerve of a high-rise burglar.

He was last in driving distance among those who made the cut, and yet he was 7-under par on the par 5s through 36 holes. While Dustin Johnson is hitting 5-irons into par 5s, Spieth is laying up and hitting wedge because he knows he can't stop the ball with a long iron or wood.

No, game management is not as sexy as monster power and he can't hit with the bombers, but all Spieth does is work his way around the course with his head and a confident swing.

It's unimaginable that someone his age has already been in a position to win on Sunday at the Masters, and losing last year on the back nine to Bubba Watson will serve him well this time around as he tries to hold off major winners Rose and Phil Mickelson.

The last “Next Tiger Woods,” McIlroy, almost didn't make the cut this weekend the way he was playing through 27 holes, proof that even the best can struggle and that having that title placed on your back can weigh down even the most brilliant golfers.

Here's hoping that Spieth doesn't get labeled, that he can spend the next 20 years playing great golf, winning majors and entertaining those who appreciate the sport for what it is.

We may never get the “Next Tiger Woods.” In fact, it's an excellent bet that it will never happen.

But we never stop hoping — and it's why we keep watching.

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM. brozner@dailyherald.com