At 24 years of age, Jordan Spieth is living one of the best moments of his still short professional career, whose last great success has been his victory in the British Open after a spectacular final sprint of the tournament.
Thanks to that triumph he climbed to second place in the world ranking and, if the good streak continues, it is very possible that he will soon unseat his compatriot Dustin Johnson and regain the planetary leadership that the young Texan already held for a total of 26 weeks in various periods between 2015 and 2016.
The truth is that Spieth, a native of Dallas who turned professional in 2012 after having become the number one amateur in the world, has had an amazing season, with three victories (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Travellers Championship and the British Open), eight top-10 and almost seven million dollars in prize money on the U.S. Tour. He still has a schedule left to try to match his most successful season, that of 2015, when he scored five of the dozen wins he has achieved so far on the PGA Tour (plus another two internationals, both in Australia).
One of his most immediate goals will be to revalidate his FedExCup championship title (at the end of July he was second) that he won in 2015, a memorable season in which the Texas player won two majors (Masters and US Open), five PGA Tour titles and the FedExCup. He finished fifteen times in the top ten and his was the best season in twenty years by a player not named Tiger Woods. In that campaign, his prize earnings translated into twelve million dollars, nearly triple the previous season and double that of 2016. Since turning pro five years ago, Spieth has pocketed nearly $33 million in prize money alone in American Tour tournaments.
The American idol
When, in his first year as a professional, Spieth achieved his first victory, in the John Deere Classic, and registered nine top-10s, American fans were once again excited: they had a new idol who could make up for the disappointments caused by the shining foreign figures since Tiger Woods fell in disgrace and lost his magic and the throne of world golf. At last, a compatriot was looking like a hero. The new messiah of American golf was a young man who, when he achieved his second triumph on the PGA Tour at the age of 21, put himself on a par statistically with Tiger Woods, Sergio García and Robert Gámez.
Because these three were the only ones until then, in 2015, who for seven decades had achieved two victories before turning 22.
In addition to the Valspar Championship and the 2013 John Deere Classic, Spieth had won two other tournaments, the Hero World Challenge, a PGA Tour event but not an official or scoring competition, and the Australian Open.
Aside from the record of two tournament wins on the PGA Tour before the age of 22, Tiger’s aspiring successor had another similarity with the Californian: both are the only two-time winners of the U.S. Junior Amateur.
If with his first victory in the American Tour, the John Deere Classic, at just 19 years of age, he already caused a sensation, no less of a stir was generated by his great performance in the 2014 Masters when he became the youngest runner-up in the history of the tournament, due to Bubba Watson, who won his second Green Jacket.
The world at your feet
In 2015 the world fell at his feet for his victories in the Masters and the U.S. Open, his second place in the U.S. PGA Championship and his fourth in the British Open. He also won three other tournaments and closed the season with earnings of more than twelve million dollars.
Now, after his triumph in the 146th British Open, five days shy of his 24th birthday, Spieth became, after Jack Nicklaus, the second player to win three majors under the age of 24. In his case, the young American already has to his credit, apart from the British Open, the Augusta Masters and the U.S. Open.
Despite his youth, Spieth has demonstrated from his first steps as a professional a great temper in the decisive moments of the competition. Not in vain, his first two victories in the PGA Tour were decided in playoffs.
Spieth is clear about what he needs to do to achieve his goals. Years ago, when Jordan was a teenager, his father taught him that he had to set goals. “That’s been my philosophy, set goals and work hard, stay focused and reach them as soon as possible. At every level I always reevaluate my goals and set new ones; I don’t want to get complacent.”
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