Two major championship wins. Five PGA Tour victories. $12 million in on-course earnings. The FedEx Cup title. No. 1 on the World Ranking to close 2015. By just these objective measures, Jordan Spieth seems the clear choice for Golf World’s Newsmaker of The Year. If, however, for some reason you need more proof, there’s the subjective accomplishments the 22-year-old Texan turned in that provide a fuller view of a truly impressive year. Start with the fact that Spieth, unlike any golfer save Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods in their primes, made winning the modern-day calendar Grand Slam appear genuinely possible. If not for being on the course for an ill-advised 32-minute Saturday-morning restart of the second round at St. Andrews, high winds blowing his ball off the 14th green and costing him a stroke, Spieth might have added the Open Championship to his Masters and U.S. Open titles, and the PGA at Whistling Straits becomes the most anticipated golf tournament in history. As the chance at sports immortality slipped away, Spieth’s humble personality got its opportunity to shine. If there’s a more likable twentysomething athlete around, have that person come to Dallas so he or she can challenge Spieth to see who can help walk the most grandmothers across the street in an hour. Any outward modesty, though, belies Spieth’s inner competitor. Happy to share the spotlight with Rory McIlroy and Jason Day or any other rival you’d throw at him, Spieth rarely can stomach seeing their names above his on a leader board. So now comes the hard part: the encore. Expectations will follow, and accomplishing the same or more in another calendar year might not be possible. Like Woods trying to match 2000, Spieth will be chasing 2015 for his entire career. Lucky for us, we get to sit back and see if he’ll catch it.
