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Both looking for a spark as the annual trip to
Augusta approaches, the Americans will be sternly tested in the
fiery cauldron of match play at the five-day tournament at
Austin Country Club in Texas.
After a solid start to the year, reigning Masters champion Reed
has suddenly gone off the boil.
He finished a mediocre equal 47th at the Players Championship
two weeks ago, before shooting scores of 77 and 75 at the
Valspar Championship last week to miss the cut by a country
mile.
Alarmed, he put out an SOS to renowned instructor David
Leadbetter, who has quickly agreed to work with the defending
Masters champion.
Leadbetter first made his name by reconstructing Nick Faldo's
swing back in the mid 1980s, which set the stage for the
Englishman to win six major titles.
His other clients have included former world number one Nick
Price and child prodigy Michelle Wie.
Spieth, meanwhile, is enduring the first prolonged slump of his
still young career and has not had a top 30 finish all year.
"Everyone goes through ups and downs in every part of their
game," the 2015 Masters champion said on Tuesday.
"I maybe started to get over-analytical and a little too
emotional instead of figuring what got off, where it got off and
how to get better."
Spieth plays fellow American Billy Horschel on Wednesday, while
Reed faces compatriot Andrew Putnam.
Tiger Woods, in his first match play appearance since 2013,
plays Aaron Wise, while Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy is up
against long-hitting American Luke List.
This will be McIlroy's only appearance between his Players
Championship victory and the Masters, where he will have a
chance to complete the career grand slam.
McIlroy said there were two ways to approach match play.
"You play the person, or you play the course and you don't
really react or respond to who you're playing against," he said.
"Every match, it's like you're playing in contention with
something on the line. I don't want to call it a practice week
but at the same time it's a good test to make sure your head's
in the right place."
The match play is no longer a knockout event from day one.
Instead, the 64 players have been divided into 16 groups of
four.
Everyone plays everyone else in their group over the first three
days, after which the player with the best record in each group
advances to the 16-man knockout phase over the weekend.
Woods and McIlroy will face off in the round-of-16 on Saturday
if they win their respective groups. (Reporting by Andrew Both
in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Nick Mulvenney)
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