in Blog, In The Clubhouse by Jeff Waters

JORDAN SPIETH IS NOT A ONE-HIT WONDER

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For those casual golf fans out there that don’t follow the sport of golf other than watching the Majors on TV, engage in social media or watch late night television, Jordan Spieth seems to have appeared out of nowhere. He shows up, wins the Masters, the attendant green jacket, a lot of money and accidental watchers of the sport somehow think he won the lottery.

But I’m here to tell you this 21 year old kid from Dallas, Texas, with a solid upbringing and a Jesuit education, has already done things in golf very few have ever accomplished not named Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods.

For starters: He and Tiger are the only players to win multiple United States Junior Amateur titles; he was the Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2009; was named the best junior golfer in the United States in the 2009 Polo Junior Golf rankings; played in his first PGA Tour event at sixteen and made the cut finishing in the top twenty; selected for the 2011 Walker Cup matches and did not lose a match; was a 2008, 2009 and 2010 AJGA First-Team All-American; reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 US Amateur; played collegiately at  the University of Texas where his team won the 2012 NCAA National Championship; turned professional and won the 2013 John Deere Classic becoming the first teenage winner on the PGA Tour since Ralph Guldahl in 1931; selected to the 2013 Presidents Cup team; won the 2013 Rookie of the Year on the PGA Tour; almost four million dollars; and to cap it off, all these accomplishments happened while he was still a teenager.

Last year, in his first full year as a PGA Tour member, he won twice, finished second in the Masters, played on the Ryder Cup and increased his winnings to almost four and a half million dollars.

He started this year with five top ten’s and a win at the Valspar Championship. In his last three starts before Augusta he finished 1st, 2nd and 2nd , climbed to number four in the world golf rankings, won over three million dollars before Easter and somehow people think this kid just showed up and won the 2015 Masters.

I have often said, whenever I am asked for my opinion on the state of professional golf and the trickle-down effect on golf in general, for golf to be successful, marketable and popular to the masses it needs: either a dominate force, like Tiger Woods; or a genuine rivalry like we saw during the Jack Nicklaus years when Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Johnny Miller and a number of other players took their shot at Jack.

In the years following Jack’s success, 18 professional majors, and his ascendency to the best player to have ever played the game, golf lost its popularity due to the fact that no one could take Jack’s place as the dominant force in golf, until the arrival of Tiger Woods.

Tiger, who famously taped Jack’s accomplishments to his bedroom wall, came close to Jack’s records and his performance on the golf course for the last 10-15 years has been magical. TV ratings were up, interest in golf bloomed, “The Tiger Effect” it was called, and golf was marketable again.  The problem with Tiger’s reign, as the best player of his era, is the rivalry with other players was almost nonexistent. There were usurpers: Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Ernie Els, VJ Singh, Jim Furyk and others all took their shot at Tiger but none could sustain lasting and long term competitiveness or create a legitimate excitement in their rivalry.

With Tiger succumbing to age and injuries, golf’s popularity has declined, television ratings are down and casual fans everywhere are losing interest in the game. Returning to my main argument, for golf to be successful, it needs a mega-superstar or a genuine rivalry between the best of their era to sustain significance in the world of sports.

This brings our conversation squarely back to Jordan Spieth, his recent triumphs on the world stage and another young superstar, Rory McIlory. Golf’s trajectory and its future are now squarely in the hands of these prodigies and now equal rivals for center stage in the world of professional golf.

Both are under twenty-five, have won major golf tournaments, genuinely nice people and both are set to gain their place in golf history to be included among the best to have ever played the game. After Spieth’s win at Augusta, they are ranked number one and two in the world. It’s no coincidence that television ratings for this Masters were the highest since 2008, Tigers last great year.

Golf needs this rivalry for many reasons and it should only get better. Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy are the real deal and both are going to be around for a long time. I and millions of golf fans worldwide are excited to vicariously join them on their journey as they take golf to unfathomable new heights and glory.

At the Masters I’m Jeff Waters

 

Jeff Waters, MBA, is a PGA Master Professional and the President/CEO of Rocky Mountain Golf Enterprises, a Utah-licensed and registered corporation that uses golf as a marketing tool. With over fifty years of experience in the golf industry, Jeff has worn many hats in diverse roles, including as a player, teacher, Head Professional, administrator, and small business owner. Jeff's extensive background includes ten years as a competitive player, ten years as a Head Golf Professional, overseeing the entire golf course operation, three years as the Director of Player Development for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, managing, directing, and supervising multiple golf course programs, and over thirty years as a golf coach and instructor at Rocky Mountain Golf Academy, teaching the game. His elite professional status as a fully trained and certified PGA Master Professional highlights his commitment to the sport. This prestigious designation is merited by a small and exclusive group of Golf Professionals worldwide. This wealth of experience in both the sport and business of golf has established Jeff as a highly skilled and knowledgeable expert and one of America's most qualified and accomplished Golf Professionals. In addition to his practical experience, Jeff has a robust academic background, including a BS in Political Science from the University of Utah, graduate studies in Economics and Commercial Recreation, at that school, and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. He has also taught undergraduate courses at the University of Utah's College of Health and served as an adjunct professor at Granite Peaks Community School. As a well-known media personality, Jeff's versatility in the golf industry is evident through his work as a celebrated broadcast journalist and radio host. He has traveled extensively nationwide, announcing major sporting events at arenas, ballparks, stadiums, and golf courses for national media outlets and syndicated on the Rocky Mountain Golf Radio Network. A member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Jeff regularly contributes editorial pieces to national print publications and has authored multiple books, essays, and short stories. His work has appeared in numerous domestic and regional periodicals and magazines, such as Utah Golf News, Rocky Mountain Golfer, Golf Today, Utah Fairways, Jackson Hole Golf News, and Utah Golf Magazine. He has also contributed to blogs, podcasts, internet forums, and his website at www.jeffgolfguy.com. Jeff's unwavering dedication and service to the golf industry continue to inspire others, underscoring his deep commitment and affection for the sport, business, and recreation of golf.