Will Jordan Spieth Handle the Pressure Cooker of a Sunday Lead at the Masters?

AUGUSTA, Ga. — After setting records on Friday and Saturday, despite a hiccup in his third round, Jordan Spieth faces the toughest test of all, in the hours before the final 18 holes of the 2015 Masters. He’s still in first, but is he in control? The night will seem to last forever.

The Masters lead still belongs to him, and it’s large enough, four shots—yet at the same time, it's not large enough. Greg Norman was six ahead going into the last day in 1996—and lost by five to Nick Faldo.

Norman was a veteran who had won two British Opens by then.

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And lest we forget the most recent example of "Golf's Next Big Thing," who succumbed to Sunday pressure. In 2011, Rory McIlroy held the lead heading into the back nine, but a triple bogey on 10 and four-putt double bogey at 12 erased his chances at a first major win in a flash.

Spieth is obscenely talented, but at 21 he's still young. Unlike McIlroy at the time, Spieth has known the pain of losing a Masters. He was tied with Bubba Watson after 54 holes a year ago, but he closed with a round of even-par 72, while Watson shot 69.

Spieth insists he learned from last year’s mistakes, that he has to play within himself and he has to not think of the big picture. Golf is different than other sports, however.

You can give away as much as the other guy takes. You don’t lose points when you’re up by 14 in football. But in golf, your bogey—or in the case of Spieth at No. 17 on Saturday, double bogey—reduces the edge without the other guy even hitting a shot. The tournament's Twitter account provides a recap of Spieth's third-round performance:

So while Spieth continues ahead, where he’s been since the first round, Saturday’s two-under par 70 giving him a 54-hole score 200, 16-under par, it’s anything but safe—not with two major champions immediately nipping at his heels in 2013 U.S Open winner Justin Rose and multiple-major winner Phil Mickelson at 12-under and 11-under, respectively. 

For so much of Saturday, Spieth appeared uncatchable, which he very well may be. But as another example of golf's unpredictability and vagaries—a bad bounce, a putt that spins out—Spieth went from 18-under and six ahead to 16-under and four ahead in a couple of holes.

Spieth put one into the crowd at the par-four 17th, and suddenly there was a golf tournament. Four strokes? That’s virtually nothing. Two of your own bogeys combined two of Rose’s birdies? Or three of Mickelson’s? That can swing fortunes. ESPN.com's Jason Sobel described Spieth's 18th-hole approach shot as "Norman-ish":

“Obviously being four under at one point and closing at two under is disappointing,” said Spieth. "But it could have been worse.”

And with final-round pressure, it might get worse.

“I don’t think it matters who’s close to him,” said Mickelson, who’s won the Masters three times.

Maybe not, but the fact that Spieth again is close to winning a major could matter.

Johnny Miller is known as one of golf’s best TV commentators. He was a player great enough to have won the U.S. Open and British Open. And through 14 holes, he held the lead in the 1971 Masters. “I got to the top of the hill on 15,” recalled Miller about the par five, “and started thinking how proud my father would be to see me in that green jacket.”

Miller didn’t win, finishing second to Charles Coody by two strokes.

Norman, who also had the lead in the ’86 Masters, the one taken by Jack Nicklaus at age 46, never won. And Arnold Palmer, “The King,” who did win four Masters, rues the 1961 tournament when he collapsed at the 18th hole.

Just the name Masters can cause a golfer to choke. Kids such as Spieth grow up watching the tournament, listening to Jim Nantz proclaim it a tradition unlike any other, and then they lose their focus.

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“The hardest thing to do is to put aside wanting to win so bad,” Spieth said. “I got off to a great start and had a chance to win last year on Sunday. I’d like to have that same opportunity this year.”

He does, but that’s a big word, opportunity. What will he do with it? What will Rose and Mickelson make him do? At 10-shots behind, McIlroy and Tiger Woods probably shouldn’t be in the conversation, but they've combined to win 18 majors. They know how to close. 

“It’s in Jordan’s hands right now,” said Woods. “But you never know. That’s the thing about this golf course.”

Augusta National Golf Club is a course with wonderful risk-reward holes, a golf course with water on five holes on the back nine.

“There are going to be roars,” conceded Spieth.

He means from the crowd responding to those ahead. Those roars can rattle a golfer. There’s no place to hide at Augusta National. Huge scoreboards dot the property. Every golfer knows what every other golfer is doing.

But on Sunday, Spieth must focus on what he alone is doing.

“I’m a little anxious,” said Spieth. “But more comfortable than I thought I would be. It’s just so hard. I was anxious to get started today. But today gives me confidence for (Sunday).

“The others are going to bring their game, and I’ve got to have a relatively stress-free round.”

As if there is any such thing on Sunday at the Masters.

Art Spander is a winner of the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism from the PGA of America. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.