You will not hear Jordan Spieth say it but I think the world number one is taking a page out of the Golden State/Steph Curry follow-up year motivation script when he implies that there is still something to prove this year.
When asked about his approach to the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua he said, “Continue what we were doing last year. That’s the way I’ll keep on thinking about it”. Note that in the most individual sport in the world Jordan insists on speaking in the first person plural.
The man is coachable…whether he needs it or not..
Embed from Getty Images.
Spieth knows that everyone will be measuring this year’s performance against the career year he posted last year-two majors, five wins, a tour championship, a FedEx Cup, and $20 plus million in tournament winnings. At age 22 this will be an awfully high bar he has set but given his team’s focus and attention to detail it behooves all of us to just sit back and enjoy their enthusiastic approach to taking it on.
Sky’s the limit and it looks bluer than blue for Jordan
Against a strong contingent that included all of the Golf World Ranking Top Ten except Rory, Henrik, and Justin, Spieth torched the Plantation Course to the tune of 30-under par beating the field by 8 furlongs (or a mile by my calculation). Ravaging the par fives to the tune of 16-under for the week he just kept his eyes in front of him and never looked back at the competition furiously chasing his wake.
In the midst of the back nine on Sunday, with a five-shot lead his conversation with counsel picking his club into the 13th from an awkward angle in the left rough was typically aggressive-he thought he needed one more birdie to insure the victory. He settled for par but birdies on 15, 16, and 18 applied plenty of whipped cream to the championship sundae.
You can set your watch…we will be seeing this image again and again this year
Next stop is the appearance money mart at the HSBC in Abu Dhabi where McIlroy, Stenson, Fowler, and the rest of the WGR Gang will have to fashion a response. Trust me, they know Jordan’s 2015 was no fluke and it is going to take a group effort to keep him from winning 24 in a row.
January, 2016
moegolf 