Spieth has some Jordan, some Tiger, some Jack and Arnie.
Maybe his parents named him Jordan because they wanted him to be special like Michael. Maybe watching Tiger as a kid taught him to have steely nerves and a killer instinct. Maybe he saw enough old videos to channel the Nicklaus machine and the Palmer comeback on the back nine.
Whatever made Jordan Spieth the golfer he is today, and will be for the next generation, we saw it Sunday on the last five holes of the British Open at Royal Birkdale. It was a finish that will have hackers and even non-golfers talking for months.
Spieth began the final round with a three-stroke lead. It wasn’t his day and he quickly went three over par to give sentimental favorite Matt Kuchar a chance to win his first major. Tied with Kuchar at the par 4 13th, Spieth hit perhaps the worst drive of his pro career, so far right it landed beyond the TV trucks in the practice range for a penalty stroke.
Kuchar was on the green with a makeable birdie putt, when Spieth somehow hit a blind second shot 250 yards to the fringe and made a miraculous up and down for a bogey. Spieth was suddenly behind, and said that made him relax.
He began his Palmer-like charge with the toughness of Jordan in a Game Seven and the precision of Nicklaus and Tiger. He birdied the par 3 15th after his ball missed the cup and a hole-in-one by inches. He followed that with a ridiculous long putt for eagle and, now cooking, rolled in another birdie to give him back a two-stroke lead. A third birdie and a closing par made Spieth, at 23, the youngest player to win three legs of the career grand slam major championships.
He doesn’t resemble any of the above super sports heroes. Spieth is a plain looking Texan, not very big and muscular. He doesn’t hit it as far as other pros or show much emotion. But he has every shot in his bag including a putter that can get as hot as a longhorn branding iron.
Next month, Spieth will go for the career grand slam in the PGA at Quail Hollow in Charlotte. He will have a Jordan-like Carolina crowd cheering him and an Arnie-like Army following his every move. He has replaced Tiger as the newest face of golf.
(Photo: Brian Blanco/Associated Press)
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