Tag: Jordan Spieth

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Jordan Spieth is Not Going to Win the Triple Crown of Golf, and That’s Okay

The 2015 U.S Open at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, Washington concluded on Sunday,
and the new, controversial, links-style course did not disappoint on Sunday.  This is in spite of numerous complaints from players, like Ian Poulter:

I look forward to congratulating the 2015 US Open Champion very soon, I simply didn’t play well enough to be remotely close. This is not sour grapes or moaning or any of that crap. It simply the truth. Mike Davis the head of the @USGA unfortunately hasn’t spoke the truth about the conditions of the greens. I feel very sorry for the hundreds of greens staff who spent countless hours leading into this week and this week doing there best to have it the best they could and I thank them for that. But look at the picture. This was the surface we had to putt on. It is disgraceful that the @USGA hasn’t apologized about the greens they simply have said. “we are thrilled the course condition this week”. It wasn’t a bad golf course, In fact it played well and was playable. What wasn’t playable were the green surfaces. If this was a regular PGA tour event lots of players would have withdrawn and gone home on Wednesday, but players won’t do that for a major. They were simply the worst most disgraceful surface I have ever seen on any tour in all the years I have played. The US Open deserves better than that. And the extra money that they have earn’t this year from @FoxSports, they could easily have relayed the greens so we could have had perfect surfaces. Simply not good enough and deeply disappointing for a tournament of this magnitude. I don’t like it when people lie on camera to try and save face. And to all you fans that paid good money to try and watch us play golf but couldn’t see anything on most holes because it wasn’t possible to stand on huge slopes or see around stands, I apologize and I’m sorry you wasted your money traveling to be disappointed. I hope we all learn something moving forward to not have these problems in the future. Happy Fathers Day.

A photo posted by Ian Poulter (@ianjamespoulter) on

And Chris Kirk:

And this one from Billy Horschel, which, though wordless, speaks for itself: However, the drama on Sunday was absolutely scintillating. Spieth birdied the 16th hole, and co-leader Branden Grace accompanied this with a double bogey on the same hole, which started with this tee shot that ended up out of bounds to the right on the course’s signature train tracks: This combination of events as well as Dustin Johnson and Jason Day’s abrupt fades from contention gave Spieth a three shot lead with two holes to go.  However, Spieth double bogeyed the 17th hole, and Johnson birdied the 16th at about the same time. Johnson then parred the par-3 17th, and the tournament was tied heading into its final hole. Spieth had the first crack at the par-5 18th, and his fairway drive left him in position to get to the green in two.  He then hit this brilliant shot to get near the hole and have a chance for an eagle:

Spieth would two-putt on the green, getting a birdie and forcing Johnson to birdie the hole for an 18-hole playoff on Monday.  A monster drive and a great approach shot gave him a chance to win the tournament by making his eagle putt.  Here was DJ, in the first half of this video, for the win:

And here is DJ for the tie and 18 holes the next day: This stunning sequence of events gave Spieth his first U.S. Open title and his second major title of the year, coming after the Masters in April.  Some are comparing him to Tiger Woods and other great golfers of the past, and on the surface, these comparisons seem just.  This is the list of golfers to win the first two legs of golf’s “Grand Slam” in the same year: Craig Wood-1941 Sam Snead- 1949 Ben Hogan- 1951, 1953 Arnold Palmer- 1960 Jack Nicklaus- 1972 Tiger Woods- 2002 However, Spieth is not the next Tiger, or Snead, or Hogan, or Jack, or Arnold.  He is his own type of player, one who does not hit the ball very long off the tee but has mastered all the other aspects of his game.  Spieth will be around as one of the best golfers in the game for a long time to come, but he doesn’t play like Tiger; not even close. We must also be careful to build up Spieth in advance of this year’s Open Championship at St. Andrews.  The last time a player won the first two majors of the year (Woods in 2002), he went into that year’s Open as the heavy favorite.  Many picked Tiger to win that year’s Open, which was held at Muirfield in Scotland.  Woods went into the third round tied for 9th at -4, two strokes behind the leaders.  Then this happened: Tiger shot 81 that day, and lost his shot at the Claret Jug in the process.  Ernie Els would ultimately win the Jug that year.  In the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, Woods finished second and lost by one stroke to Rich Beem, and the win would turn out to be Beem’s only major title. Woods has also finished second or tied for second in majors before, but has lost to winners such as Michael Campbell, Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman, and Y.E. Yang, and all of those but Cabrera have not won a major since.  The point here is that it will be so difficult for Spieth to win the last two majors of the year.  With so many golfers in the field looking to take him down, it will be very difficult for Spieth to win even one of the last two majors. Spieth has played excellent golf over the past two months, and seems to come up clutch in big moments.  However, there is one unmistakable truth that should come out of the U.S. Open. Jordan Spieth is not going to be golf’s first triple crown winner. Related: that’s okay.

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Chief Spieth: What Jordan’s Win Means for Golf

So Jordan Spieth didn’t self-destruct on Sunday.  With his second straight 70, Spieth tied Tiger Woods’ 1997 Masters scoring record with an -18, 270.  Every time it seemed competitors Justin Rose or Phil Mickelson got within 3 or 4, it seemed Spieth would always respond.  At 21 years and about 8 1/2 months, Spieth became the second-youngest winner in Masters history.  Last year, Spieth was tied with Bubba Watson for the lead on the eighth hole on Sunday; he would lose his share of the lead after a bogey on the ninth hole.  Using those experiences, Spieth ran away with this year’s tournament by four strokes.

With this win, Spieth catapults himself to second in the world.  Number 1 in the world is Rory McIlroy, and this could become one of the great rivalries in golf.  Who wouldn’t love to see a scenario like the 1977 British Open at Turnberry where Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson sped away from the field and dueled until the final hole?  Watson carried a one-shot lead into the final hole.  Both birdied, and Watson walked away with a Claret Jug.  Watson finished at -12, while Nicklaus was -11.  The next lowest competitor was Hubert Green; he was -1.  Who wouldn’t love to see Rory and Jordan lap the field and duel for major titles in the future?  If Spieth can avoid the Bubba Watson distinction of not having the same amount of success at other courses as he does at Augusta, he and McIlroy will be the world’s two best golfers for a long, long time.  Spieth’s all-around game seems to suggest that he can be that kind of golfer, and can compete at many different courses.  He doesn’t have any real flaws in his game, and he seemed to have complete control of his short game, and, particularly, his putting.  He doesn’t kill his drives, but his short game is so strong that that doesn’t really matter.

In conclusion, the game of golf is in really good hands, and specifically in the four hands of Spieth and McIlroy.  Get ready to enjoy golf’s next great rivalry, as these two continue to develop and flourish as they mature throughout their careers.