Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy may be stealing all the headlines heading into the 2015 Masters at Augusta National, but it’s Jordan Spieth you should be watching.
The world No. 4 golfer finished 2014 with a first-place finish at the Hero World Challenge and then proceeded to pick up play this year right where he left off last. Though it’s still far too early in the season for such talk, Spieth’s play has him on pace to claim PGA Tour Player of the Year honors.
Or, as SB Nation’s Brendan Porath concisely summarized, this “should only be the start of a monster year” for Spieth.
The 21-year-old from Dallas, Texas, is carrying some serious momentum into Augusta after finishing second in a three-way playoff at the Shell Houston Open on Sunday (highlighted in the video below), finishing second at the Valero Texas Open a week before and winning a three-hole playoff against Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair at theValspar Championship on March 15.
In addition to those near misses, Spieth also registered more-than-respectable finishes of tied for 17th at the WGC-Cadillac (March 8), tied for fourth at the Northern Trust Open (February 22), tied for seventh at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (February 15) and tied for seventh at the Waste Management Phoenix Open (February 1).
However, what is perhaps as important as those consistent quality finishes is the simple fact that he has played competitive golf nearly every week from the start of February right up to this week’s Masters.
Nothing prepares a player better for the inevitable pitfalls of a major than coming into the tournament with rhythm and confidence from a well-oiled swing.
The oddsmakers seem to agree with that assessment, as the latest figures from Odds Shark have Spieth as an 8-1 favorite to win the Masters, just behind McIlroy at 11-2 and just ahead of 2012 and 2014 champion Bubba Watson at 10-1.
Spieth has not yet won his first major—he certainly may be forgiven for his youth—but his best finish by far was at last year’s Masters, where he ended up tied for second with Jonas Blixt, three strokes behind champion Bubba Watson.