By Sam Belden
Talk about a productive weekend. It had already been a banner year for Jordan Spieth, and he left the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club on Sunday with two important things: the world No. 1 ranking and a check for $11.5 million. Hey, if you win the FedEx Cup, the PGA Tour’s season-long points-based competition, that tends to happen to you.
Spieth’s 2015 season has been one of the best in recent memory, but even a devoted fan could be forgiven for not seeing this one coming. Prior to last week’s deciding event, his record at East Lake was uninspiring. Furthermore, it had been weeks since his last top 10, and when Spieth has hit slumps in the past, it’s taken him a while to get his game back.
Watching him on Sunday, however, one wouldn’t have been able to tell that he’d been scuffling; the 22-year-old Texan managed the course cooly and was nearly automatic with the flatstick.
That Tour Championship performance was a microcosm of Spieth’s entire season. Through it all, he kept a level head on his shoulders and pulled off improbable shots that put him out in front. In fact, Spieth’s performance over the past nine-or-so months has arguably been the greatest display of mental toughness in the sport of golf since that of Tiger Woods in his heyday.
As a part of his rise to the pinnacle of the game, Spieth has had to overcome three major obstacles: the PGA Tour’s membership requirements, his on-course demons and a pair of elite rivals. In examining his conflicts with each of these three forces, we can get a better idea of exactly how Spieth went from a world-renowned junior golfer to the force of nature that we get to watch today.
In the winter of 2012, Spieth left the University of Texas after just three semesters. Why? He felt that he was good enough to play on the PGA Tour, and he didn’t want to waste any time in getting out there. When Spieth failed to earn his 2013 tour card through Q-School, many pundits crowed that the move had backfired, but they were wrong. After scoring a few sponsorship exemptions, he tied for second at the Puerto Rico Open and never looked back. With his name now officially on the radar, Spieth continued to accept free passes into various tournaments until he won the John Deere Classic in July, finally securing his membership. From the very start of his pro career, it was clear that Spieth was cut from a different cloth. For most players, it takes years to learn how to consistently contend on the PGA Tour, but he started doing so almost immediately. His membership saga will always be an essential part of the story of his career.
Of course, consistently contending is just one part of the equation. In order to become the player he is today, Spieth had to learn how to win, and to do that, he had to do plenty of losing first. After the aforementioned Deere victory, Spieth endured a long drought — one that lasted more than a year-and-a-half, in fact. In 2014, he had four good chances after 54 holes but came away winless. Still, it was a good season, all in all, and Spieth righted the ship this season, notching five PGA Tour victories (and four runner-up finishes) en route to a new record for most money won during a single season. Last season, his final round scoring average was 70.4; this year, it’s 68.8.
Finally, Spieth has risen to the top even while in the midst of a pair of top-tier rivals: Rory McIlroy and Jason Day. All three had strong seasons in 2015, but with a pair of majors and three other wins, Spieth’s was the best of the bunch. Even that doesn’t tell the whole story. While McIlroy began the year in the No. 1 spot, Spieth had to fight his way up from No. 9, passing eight talented peers and getting his points average up to where few have ever gone before. Last week, Day was No. 1 after catching fire in the playoffs, but Spieth responded again and left little doubt as to who belongs on top.
Throughout his entire career to this point, it’s seemed that Spieth has never stopped moving. He was on the PGA Tour at 19, won his first major at 21 and was the youngest player at East Lake last week at 22. Now, it’s everyone else that’s going to have to scramble. If they don’t, Spieth will leave them in the dust.
