Hanging in the closet of Jordan Spieth’s new home in Dallas is a green jacket, the one he acquired last month. “I think it’s sandwiched between a couple of shirts,” he said with a slight grin. Oh, but make no mistake – the Masters champ knows the exact whereabouts of his prized possession, mainly because he’s consistently checking on it.
“Kind of just hold it as if it’s the greatest trophy that I’ve ever had,” Spieth said, before adding, “because it is.”
It’s certainly the most celebrated trophy won by a PGA TOUR pro from Texas in quite some time. Spieth, the 21-year-old native of Dallas, is the first Texas-born golfer to win a major since 1997 when Justin Leonard won The Open Championship, and the first since Austin’s Ben Crenshaw in 1995 to win the Masters.
Spieth, incidentally, had yet to turn 4 years old when Leonard, also a Dallas native, won at Royal Troon.
For a state rich in golfing history – here at Colonial, you’re reminded of it every day when you walk past the big statue of Ben Hogan near the clubhouse steps – the drought between major wins was too long.
That’s why the next two weeks figure to be crazy for Spieth. This week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial will be his first start in Texas since winning the Masters. He’ll follow that by playing in his hometown event next week at the AT&T Byron Nelson, a tournament he played five years when, as a 16-year-old amateur, he tied for 16th. It was the first indication, at least on the PGA TOUR stage, that he could be something special.
He’s delivered on that promise, and now the Green Jacket resides in the Lone Star State.
“I’m excited for these two weeks,” Spieth said. “This is going to be a really fun stretch. To come back home with the Green Jacket and be introduced like that is really special. It’s where it really starts to hit me kind of what it means.”
Spieth is the first reigning Masters champ since Phil Mickelson in 2010 to play the Crowne Plaza Invitational. That fact, along with Adam Scott returning to Fort Worth to defend the title he won a year ago in his first week as the world’s top player -- he’s now 11th while Spieth is 2nd – has tournament director Michael Tothe feeling very upbeat about the show that will take place this week.
“First and foremost, to have Adam Scott come back and defend is amazing,” Tothe said. “Then to have the Masters champ – and a local hometown hero – is pretty special as well.
“For us, traditionally when the Green Jacket is presented, people start thinking about Colonial. That certainly became evident when Jordan won the Masters. It created a nice buzz.”
That buzz should be palpable on Thursday when Spieth tees off just before 1 p.m. local time. That’s because the alumni association at Jesuit College Prep School, Spieth’s high school, has bought tickets giving them access to bleachers overlooking the first tee.
For Spieth, the challenge will be to stay focused on the task at hand and avoid getting caught up in the attention and hoopla surrounding his return. It won’t be easy.
“Obviously, the first tee shot when I’m introduced, it’s going to feel really cool with the crowds that we’ll experience these two weeks,” he said. “But then once I step over the ball, all that’s in my head is I need to play better than I’ve played the last couple of weeks.”
In a seven-start stretch that culminated in his Masters win, Spieth had six top-10 finishes, including his first win of the season at the Valspar Championship. But in his three starts since slipping on the Green Jacket, he tied for 11th at the RBC Heritage, couldn’t advance out of the group stage at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Match Play, and missed the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship.
The demands on his time drained him both of energy and weight. He said after the Masters he was 10 pounds lighter, and being on the road for the Match Play and PLAYERS left him struggling to regain the weight. Not reaching the weekend at either of those events did not sit well with him but perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.
“My energy is up; my weight’s back up,” Spieth said. “… When I’m home, it’s a lot easier to keep weight on versus when you’re traveling.”
Spieth did travel to Baltimore last week for a corporate outing with UnderArmour. But he didn’t even stay for the Preakness that weekend, instead opting to return home. He’ll need all the weight he can muster as he enters his heavy stretch in the ramp up to the U.S. Open next month at Chambers Bay. Expectations will be higher than they’ve ever been as he goes about the task now of adding to his major total.
While Spieth drew comparisons to Tiger Woods for winning the Masters at age 21 – just as Tiger did in 1997 – let’s also be aware that Woods needed 11 more starts in majors before winning his second one, the 1999 PGA Championship.
So no need to rush Spieth along too fast.
“We gotta give Jordan some time to learn from this one,” said fellow Texan Ryan Palmer.
For now, the emphasis for Spieth will not be on prepping for Chambers Bay but on trying to win a TOUR event for the first time in his home state. He came close earlier this year -- a runner-up finish in San Antonio, a playoff loss in Houston – but nothing would be sweeter than to break through in Fort Worth or Dallas.
“There’s nothing better than playing well in front of your hometown family and friends,” he said.
No doubt, the eyes of North Texas will be upon him. Maybe not all his live-long days but most assuredly for the next two weeks.