Jordan Spieth has reminded us time and again over the last 15 months or so that he is an extraordinary talent and last week’s Players Championship was no exception.
Much like he did while making his debut at the Masters last month, the 20-year-old showed great maturity in finishing tied-fourth on a course which is almost as difficult as Augusta National for a first-timer.
Obviously, some critics are not impressed by the fact that he was in contention in both the tournaments on Sundays, but his game fell apart in the closing stages.
Comparisons to Tiger Woods would be unfair at this stage of his career but since 2013 he is the only player after Woods to be in the top-five heading into the final round of tournaments on eight or more occasions.
The difference being Woods converted five of his nine efforts into wins, while Spieth has done that only once.
But compare it to someone like Rory McIlroy, and you get a sense of how good he is. McIlroy won only one PGA Tour event before turning 21, and he also had the benefit of playing on the European Tour for a couple of years before that. Spieth has matched that despite the fact that he has only been on the PGA Tour for the past 17 months.
Some of the numbers Spieth has posted are as mind-boggling as the achievements of Woods. For example, his meteoric rise to becoming the No8 ranked player in the world after being 809th at the start of 2013.
At the Players, his stretch of bogey-free holes was sensational, but I was extremely impressed with the way he scrambled. In fact, his effort in making par or better in each of the 16 times he missed the green in regulation, was a Players Championship record.
Nick Faldo, in 1992, went about with a 100 per cent record, but he got 14 out of 14. I think we need to be slightly more patient with Spieth. We may be in for something very special.
Death of a caddie
The death of Ian McGregor, the very popular caddie of Alistair Forsyth, while on the golf course during the second and final round of the Madiera Island Open, has sent shockwaves through the Tour.
Play was suspended when the incident took place, but restarted after an hour following a minute’s silence for the departed soul.
The European Tour’s decision to re-start was criticised by several players – Joel Sjoholm, Mikko Ilonen, and Pablo Larrazabal among others – on social media sites, but I thought it was done in the right spirit.
Even Forsyth insisted McGregor would have wanted the tournament to carry on, but what needs to be done is to ensure McGregor’s family is taken care of and the European Tour Caddies Association needs to be stronger than it is at the moment.
Caddies are an integral part of the Tours and as much as the players are looked after, there needs to be better medical insurance/ funds for such unfortunate happenings.
Phil’s brutal assessment
Things are not going right for ‘Lefty’ at the moment, but his brutal honesty after missing the cut at the Players needs to be applauded.
Phil Mickelson, the 2007 Players champion, struggled with rounds of 75 and 70, and was forced to take the weekend off, after going through a similar situation at the Masters in April.
In fact, Mickelson has not had a single top-10 on the PGA Tour this year, despite making a bright start to the season with a tied-second place in Abu Dhabi.
When asked what the problem was Mickelson said he felt “mentally soft”. Coming from a top sportsperson, that was refreshing, because it is very rare for athletes to blame their mental strength instead of form, equipment, caddie, greens, putting…the list goes on.
Scott’s secret marriage
Apparently, Adam Scott’s marriage on the Thursday after the Masters to Swedish architect and long-time girlfriend Marie Kojzar (they broke up for three years in 2008) was such a hush-hush affair that not even the invited guests knew about it!
The Australian world No2, an intensely private person, sent out invites to a party in the Bahamas to a chosen few, and most of them did not make it to the ceremony thinking it was just a normal party.
Among those who were invited but did not go were two of his closest friends on the Tour – Geoff Ogilvy and Justin Rose.
When grilled at the Players Champioship, Scott said: “We just said we were having a party, so come on over. So, they had no idea that it was going to happen. That was the fun little game for me and Marie to play for a while, planning it and stuff.”
Quote of the Week
"It’s just tough right now, because you guys catch me five minutes after the round and it is hard…I’m not mature enough to be extremely positive. I will be in about an hour, but right now it just really, really stings." – Jordan Spieth to the media after failing to close out the Players barely a month after being in a similar situation at the Masters.
