Jordan Spieth Wins Travelers Championship

Jordan Spieth Wins Travelers Championship June 25, 2017

JordanSpiethTwenty-four year old,Texan, superstar, professional golfer Jordan Spieth just pulled off a sensational victory minutes ago. He won the Travelers Championship golf tournament on the PGA Tour at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut by defeating twenty-four year old Daniel Berger in the first playoff hole, on #18, with a hole-out from a sand bunker in front of the green for a birdie three. Berger then putted from just off the green about sixty feet away and came close, but not close enough.

Both young men had finished the regulation 72-hole event with a 268 total, twelve under par on the par 70 layout. Berger came from behind to shoot 67 today while Spieth struggled to the scorers table with a par 70.

They then went to the #18 tee to begin a sudden death playoff. Both players hit poor drives to the left. Daniel hit first, and his ball finished left of a sand bunker in short rough on the side of a small hill. Jordan then hit left as well, but his ball did not clear a lone tree left located just off the fairway and perhaps only 150s yards off the tee. The ball struck the tree solidly and ricocheted into the middle of the fairway, yet a long ways from the green. Still, it was quite a lucky break. (Jordan admitted that in the television interview soon after the tournament was finished.)

Spieth then hit a long iron shot, with the ball flying right at the pin. But it did not clear the sand bunker guarding the front right portion of the green. The ball therefore came to rest with a good, flat lie in the bunker. Jordan had just done the very same thing only minutes earlier on that 72nd hole of the tournament. But that time he had had only a 115 yard wedge shot to the pin. Thus, on both shots on #18 today, Jordan Spieth’s second shot from the fairway landed perhaps 20 yards short of his intended target on the green. The wedge shot coming up that far short was pretty inexcusable. The TV announcer said wind may have been a factor.

But in the playoff, Jordan Spieth redeemed himself by holing out from that bunker. The ball was moving pretty fast when it hit the pin. It looked to me as though, if the ball had missed the pin, it would have settled perhaps eight feet past the hole. But instead, the ball struck the pin dead solid and disappeared into the earth like a desert rat.

From Spieth’s low location of being in the bunker, he could not see the bottom of the flagstick and therefore the hole. So, as soon as he hit that shot, he quickly walked a few steps to the front and side of the bunker to get a view of the hole. When he saw the ball disappear, in exhilaration Jordan Spieth threw his sand iron several yards in the direction of his golf bag, ran quickly through the bunker, jumped into the air, turned his back in mid-air, and slammed into his caddy who was also at that moment in the air. That was some good timing, too, and an exciting display of emotion between player and caddy.

In the television interview of Daniel Berger minutes later, he was asked how he felt when he saw Spieth’s sand shot go in the hole. He said with resignation, “It was just Jordan doing his usual thing.”

Indeed, Jordan Spieth is developing a reputation for pulling off some amazing shots and putts on his way to what is now ten victories on the PGA Tour at such a young age. Tiger Woods is the only pro who has ever won his tenth PGA Tour victory at a younger age than that of Jordan Spieth, but just barely. And Jack Nicklaus won his tenth Tour victory when he was just a little older than Spieth.

What makes Jordan Spieth such a great golfer is his positive mental attitude, very good rhythm in his swing, but most of all his deft short game. That sand shot that won the tournament today is an example. Moreover, he had done likewise when he won his first tournament on the PGA Tour–the John Deere Classic in 2013. He holed a sand shot on the 72nd hole to get in a three-man sudden playoff, which he won on the 5th extra hole.

But Jordan Spieth has one glaring weakness in his swing that he must correct if he is ever going to challenge records of the likes of Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods. As I’ve said repeatedly on this blog, Jordan Spieth needs to correct that bent left arm in his swing at ball impact. That causes him to “block” shots “come off the ball,” resulting in the ball often going to the right. It also inhibits him from “releasing the club” (turning the club face over and letting the club head pass his hands) on his follow through. The result is that he can’t transfer his weight enough to his forward foot on his follow through, thus “hanging back” too much on his finish. That weakness shows up when the pressure is on the most. And that has happened to him occasionally. He should watch films of Ben Hogan to get this right because Hogan was a master at that. If Jordan Spieth ever makes this swing correction, look out–Katy bar the door!


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