By Paul Myers
In a normal year, winning two majors would be more than enough to lock down Player of the Year honors on the PGA Tour. Of course, Jordan Spieth won both the Masters and the U.S. Open to start the 2015 season, leading most to believe he would coast to the award. After great finishes at The Open Championship and the PGA Championship, it seemed that Spieth had done nothing to hurt his standing as the best player in the world.
Until Jason Day came along. Day has long been a quality player, but he took his performance to a whole new level in 2015. Finally breaking through to win a major at the PGA Championship, Day suddenly put some pressure on Spieth for the Player of the Year award. After winning the PGA, Day went on to win two of the first three FedEx Cup Playoff events, leading some to believe he could possibly wind up with the POY trophy for himself. However, in the end, Jordan Spieth had other ideas.
Tying the season up into a tidy package, Spieth ran away with the Tour Championship at East Lake, giving him the FedEx Cup, the number one ranking, the Player of the Year award (most likely), and a whole lot of cash. Taking nothing away from the incredible performances of Jason Day late in the season, 2015 will be remembered as the year of Jordan Spieth in the golf world.
What Spieth managed to accomplish in 2015 certainly goes down as one of the best seasons in golf history for a player of any age – but it is even more stunning when it is accomplished by a 22-year-old. Spieth should be on Tour for decades to come, meaning he has plenty of time to smash countless records set in previous generations. He obviously has a long way to go, but there is a reasonable chance that Jordan Spieth could go down in history as one of the best players of all time.
However, all of the speculation on what Spieth could become should be saved for a later date. For now, it would be best to simply appreciate him for what he is today. In a generation that has seen plenty of players with pretty golf swings who can’t close the deal when it matters most, Jordan Spieth breaks the mold. Certainly he has a great golf swing, but there is so much more to him than that. The ability to make clutch putts, and the ability to hold his nerve when the pressure is the highest, is rare to say the least. Instead of shrinking from the moment, Spieth has risen to it, time and time again.
For a period of time a few years ago, it seemed as though professional golf had lost its way in terms of star power. The best days of Tiger and Phil were in the past, and it wasn’t clear who was going to ascend to the throne. That question has been answered thoroughly with the results of the 2015 season. Led by Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, who are followed closely by Jason Day and Rickie Fowler (among others), the future seems bright on the PGA Tour.