At just 21, Jordan Spieth fought off a handful of multiple major winners, with names like Rory, Tiger and Phil, and ran away with this year’s Masters. His unflappable game and extraordinary putting helped the young Texan take home the coveted green jacket in the first wire-to-wire Masters victory in nearly 40 years. The only question remaining: How high can Spieth’s star rise?
One of the biggest question marks going into Augusta was what to expect from Tiger Woods. Well, he surprised nearly everyone with his calm, welcoming demeanor and his greatly improved short game. How close is he to winning again?
Our crew, still buzzing over the greatest week in golf, dive into those topics and more in the latest edition of Four-Ball.
After his historic Masters victory Sunday, how many more green jackets can Jordan Spieth add to his closet? AP Photo/David J. Phillip
1. Five — will you take over or under for career Jordan Spieth major victories?
“SportsCenter” anchor Matt Barrie: Over. And I’ll put four green jackets on him. In two trips to the Masters, Spieth has been in the final pairing twice. His game, style and temperament fit the course brilliantly. But what makes him special is his ability to putt. Putting in a major championship is paramount, and time after time this week, Spieth made a crucial putt. That’s a recipe that leads to multiple majors.
“SportsCenter” anchor Jonathan Coachman: Jordan Spieth is going to be a transcendent star going forward. I said on Sunday with four holes to play that Spieth is going to be the Tom Brady of golf, and I genuinely believe that. He’s the all-American guy who seemingly makes the difficult look easy. Spieth does not make mistakes on or off the course. He says all the right things and backs it up. His game travels and he does not get frazzled. Jordan will go way over five majors. I believe he will get to double figures.
ESPN.com senior golf analyst Michael Collins: Over. Spieth hits it straight and putts like it’s nobody’s business. Has anyone ever heard of that being a bad thing at a major? Spieth thinks his way around a golf course better than anyone on tour right now.
ESPN.com senior golf writer Bob Harig: Under. It’s hard to win majors, and although Spieth made this one look easy, it wasn’t. He had it all going for him and has been on a roll for a month. Can he keep it going? It will be fascinating to watch.
ESPN.com senior golf writer Jason Sobel: Under. I’m not exactly keen on picking against Spieth after what we just witnessed this past weekend, but there are so many really good, talented players on the upcoming landscape that this is a pick for parity rather than one against Spieth’s abilities. I’ll say four, but I won’t be too surprised if I get it wrong.
“SportsCenter” coordinating producer John Ziomek: Spieth has plenty of time and plenty of game. Hard to imagine he won’t win at least one or two more Masters after the way he has played in his first two. With his game I’m confident he finds a way to win three other majors. Over.
2. What does Spieth’s win mean for American golf?
Barrie: Other than Spieth, the biggest winner this week was American golf. We need a face. We need a star. And above all else, we need an unquestioned No. 1. And Jordan Spieth is that guy. Patrick Reed is another young American with upside. I also like the future for Brooks Koepka. But we need someone who can get in the ring with the rest of the world and win. We have that now for the next 15 years.
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Coachman: American golf could not be in a better state. Spieth, with his Masters win, secures himself as the anchor. And with Tiger on the comeback trail, Phil Mickelson showing he still has game when he wants it, and other Americans like Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka and youngster Justin Thomas, there is an abundance of riches. I just wish more guys realize why Tiger, Phil, and Spieth move the needle. They are not robots. We know when they are fired up, when they really need a shot, or if they are just plain mad. We are invested because they are invested.
Collins: It means Rory McIlroy has someone breathing down his neck whom American kids can get behind. It means we’ll be seeing a lot more Under Amour commercials during golf tournaments. But most importantly it means there are American kids who have never played golf before asking their parents to take them to a golf course this morning.
Harig: It’s a big boost. We now have a young American player who other kids will relate to and idolize, just as many did with Tiger Woods. He’s got so much ahead of him, it gives us someone to follow who will be expected to do more great things.
Sobel: I had one caddie tell me after the victory that Spieth is going to change the Ryder Cup. Now that he’s played in one already and has the cachet of being a Masters champion, his competitive spirit could overtake the team room and inspire renewed passion for the U.S. team to start winning again.
Ziomek: His win means American golf has a new leading man. With Tiger and Phil on the back nine of their careers, Spieth now becomes McIlroy’s biggest challenger for the No. 1 ranking for the next decade.
3. Thumbs-up or thumbs-down: Jordan Spieth will overtake Rory McIlroy as world No. 1 by the end of the year.
Like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods before him, Jordan Spieth’s Masters win has launched a new era, a new rivalry and a new conversation around the sport.
Don’t call 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth the next great hope for American golf. He’s already there.
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Barrie: Thumbs-down. If it wasn’t for Rory’s 40 on the first nine Friday, he might very well have won. As it was, he shot 12 under and finished fourth — a score that in most years gets you a green jacket. I expect that Rory will win a major this year, and use this week — which he’ll deem a failure — as motivation moving forward. Spieth will eventually pass him. But not this year.
Coachman: I am not an analytics guy, so I don’t know all of the math, but Spieth loves to play, and he plays a lot. He feels he needs to show up for various reasons at a lot of tournaments. He is 21, strong and enthusiastic. I believe he will pass Rory for the simple fact that he will play more and he is a top-five machine. Four wins in the past five months is some special stuff. If he keeps winning like this, there is nothing Rory can do.
Collins: Thumbs-down. Let’s not act like Rory played poorly this week, or is going to start playing bad now that Spieth won. The pressure of the career Grand Slam is off Rory until next year, and I’m thinking that frees him up to play extremely well for the rest of the year.
Harig: Thumbs-down. Rory isn’t going anywhere. He had a pretty good week, too, and will see his share of success during the summer months.
Sobel: Thumbs-up. As we’ve seen, Spieth is more consistent while McIlroy is streakier. I expect Spieth to keep building toward that No. 1 spot, overtaking McIlroy — until the latter steps on the gas pedal and cruises past him again. Sort of a tortoise and the hare type of thing, except it’s really the hare and the even faster hare.
Ziomek: Thumbs-down. McIlroy still has too big a lead, plus I suspect Rory will win at least one major this year. The big question will be how Spieth handles the fame and challenges that come with being a major winner.
4. Which was the most important question Tiger answered this week?
Barrie: Short game. If not for that, he’s looking at a 76 on Friday. It was vintage, it was sharp, and it was evident his newly grooved wedges and hard work paid off. He made the cut and finally finished all 72 holes. And Tiger can credit that to the small ball. Funny how his head cooperates when he trusts those shots.
Coachman: This answer is obvious — the short game. All the critics said if Woods can’t chip, he can’t play Augusta. His short game saved him this week. Tiger has shown us before that he can fix his swing, so I am not worried about that. With a couple more performances like this week, I believe Tiger can compete for wins and majors. Maybe I just believe too much, but Woods showed us this week that we can never underestimate him. In February he couldn’t get a chip up a hill, and we all were scared to see what this week would bring. He shocked the world. I believe he can do it again.
Collins: Is his short game recovered? That was what had most in golf concerned. He has always driven the ball sporadically; it was his short game that saved him most of the time. If that was gone, so was Tiger. He put a pretty emphatic stamp on where his short game was this week. Tiger may not be back, but his short game is.
Harig: His chipping and pitching is back. It’s almost as if it is now a non-issue. Woods couldn’t compete otherwise; now he can build back the other parts of his game.
Sobel: He answered questions about whether a short game hampered by yips was going to signal the definitive decline and lead him into retirement. I’m not exactly sure how he did it, but he went from chipping like a 22-handicapper a few months ago to looking like one of the world’s best around the greens once again.
Ziomek: Tiger proved that he is far from done. All the work he said he was putting in certainly paid off. Now if his wrist is healed, he needs to play more. If he waits to tee it up again until the Players Championship, I think it would be a mistake. He needs to build on the confidence he regained at Augusta and win again on tour, no matter the venue.
How high can Jordan Spieth's star go? - ESPN
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