Here comes Jordan Spieth!
Actually, if you've been paying attention, he's been here a while.
Spieth, a 19-year-old who attended Dallas' Jesuit High School, rallied for a dramatic victory Sunday in the John Deere Classic to become the youngest golfer to win a PGA event in 82 years. Spieth, who'll turn 20 on July 27, is the fourth-youngest PGA winner ever and the youngest since some dude named Ralph Guldahl won something called the Santa Monica Open back in something called 1931.
It's very cool. But it shouldn't at all be surprising.
Some of us saw this coming years ago.
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I was tipped off to Spieth while working as a columnist for the
Dallas Observer. I first mentioned him as
a 14-year-old who took runner-up at the 2008 Junior British Open and then awarded him with "
Best Sports Debut" in the
Observer's 2010 "Best Of Dallas" issue.
Spieth dominated in high school and during his one year in Austin, where he led Texas to the NCAA Championship. He became the only golfer not named Tiger Woods to win the U.S. Junior Amateur multiple times, and made cuts at the Byron Nelson at age 16 and the U.S. Open at 18.
His win - much less his emergence on the tour - shouldn't be a shocker. Instead of taking the long road to the PGA Tour via Qualifying School or the Web.com Junior Varsity route, Spieth turned a couple sponsors' exemptions into a permanent place on the leaderboard. He has six Top-10 finishes this season and on Sunday rallied from seven shots back with 17 holes to play, punctuated by a dramatic chip-in birdie on 18 that forced a playoff with former Masters champion Zach Johnson and David Hearn.
Along with the winner's check of $828,000, Spieth gets a couple of nice accessories:
*Bragging rights that he accomplished something - winning a pro tourney in his teens - never done by Tiger or Jack Nicklaus.
*A plane ride to Scotland, where he'll compete in this week's British Open.
Who needs Dwight Howard, we have Jordan Spieth.
Eldrick may or may not pass Jack's 18, but Jordan has the game to win more than both of 'em!
ReplyDeleteLmao.. chill. He won a tournament with average golfers. Give the kid some time before acting like he is the next tiger
ReplyDeleteFunny anonym-anus, but I said that he has the game (potential) to do it & it's based on watchin' him at Jesuit & UT, not just winning a tourney. You can't deny that he has more class than Tigger did at 19 or even now for that matter! Daddy Woods was a prick & groomed Junior to be the same, sadly.
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