Rory McIlroy contended that his buildup to the Masters began last week in the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. It marked the start of five tournaments he plans to play in the next six weeks.

Jordan Spieth was saying much the same thing — until he blew up with a 79 in the opening round in LA and quickly changed his tune.

“This is not my start to the run at the Masters. Mine will start next time,” Spieth said with a sly grin after he recovered with a 68 in the second round but still missed the cut.

Of course, McIlroy then went out and stumbled to a 75 on Sunday while in contention, and maybe he was having second thoughts about his buildup too.

The lesson: As great as we think the young guys are, they are not without moments of meltdown, and the most fascinating part is that those foibles can show up at any time.

And this week they move to the portion of the PGA Tour schedule in Florida, where there's wind and water, and those mistakes are more harshly punished.

The four-event Florida swing begins Thursday with a strong field for the Honda Classic at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens. Spieth, the world No. 1, won't be there, but the headliners are impressive: No. 3 McIroy and No. 5 Rickie Fowler, along with nine others in the top 20.

“If you can win here, you can win a major, and that's why you see guys here,” said three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, the defending Honda champion.

Next week is the WGC-Cadillac at Doral, where the top five are expected to face off for the first time in this wraparound tour season.

The final two events are the Valspar Championship at the Innisbrook Resort and the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

“Already this year has been pretty compelling as we move into the Florida swing,” NBC and Golf Channel commentator Brandel Chamblee said on a conference call. “There's a contrast between the beauty of the West Coast and … the sort of do-or-die nature of almost every shot you see coming down the stretch at the Florida swing.

“We've got at least a good, solid month of the back and forth between the best players in the world who happen to be some of the most popular players in the game right now.”

The champions of the first three Florida events last year were all top-shelf: Harrington, Dustin Johnson (Cadillac) and Spieth (Valspar). And though Matt Every isn't a known star, he won his second straight Palmer.

It says a lot about the demands and quality of the courses.

“There's no faking it around any of these golf courses running up to the Masters,” Golf Channel commentator David Duval said. “It's going to expose you if you're not driving it well, hitting your irons well.

“The interesting thing about these courses coming up is that you know where you stand in your swing and in your game headed into the Masters, because they will show you.”

What did we learn from the West Coast swing?

That quite a few of the 20-year-olds showed some flashes, but just as often the guys in the 30s got it done. Spieth, 22, and Hideki Matsuyama, 23, were the only really young golfers to prevail in the first six events of the calendar year.

The other champions were all in their 30s: Fabian Gomez, Jason Dufner, Brandt Snedeker and Bubba Watson.

There also is a recognizable difference between playing in the fall events at the beginning of the season and competing once the bigger boys show up come January. Only one of the seven winners from the fall — Kevin Kisner at the Sony Open — truly contended deep into any of the last six tournaments.

Among the young notables: Smylie Kaufman had a best finish of 14th (CareerBuilder) on the West Coast and Emiliano Grillo's top effort was a tie for 33rd (Sony).

tod.leonard@tribpub.com