There were three golfers headlining the Australian Open coming into the week. Two were well known faces to anyone with an inkling about the game.
One was just as talented, but doesn’t have a face that many people who don’t follow the game away from our shores would recognise.
Pre-tournament, it was all about the duel between Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott, the two best players in the world, resuming the battle that played out so dramatically at Royal Sydney last year.
But as always happens in golf, storylines and rivalry are always shrouded in the mystery of potential. There’s never a guarantee the predictions will actually come to be, as the uncertainties of form, conditions and course take their toll on the individuals acting out the drama.
Instead, the storyline became about the young Texan, Jordan Spieth, the most naturally talented player since McIlroy himself to emerge on the scene.
He was the third man on the branding flag waving in the breezy conditions at The Australian Golf Club, sandwiched between Scott and McIlroy. He’s ranked 14th in the world, and led coming into the Sunday at Augusta this year. This goes along with his tie for second at the Tournament of Champions, and his ties for fourth at The Players, the unofficial fifth major, and Pebble Beach. He didn’t win any of them.
It’s been a hell of a 2014 for the 21-year-old. It’s now officially the 2015 season, and you can only imagine what lies in front of him this year. A maiden major is surely within reach if he plays like he did on that beautiful Sunday.
Speaking to one of his playing partners in the pro-Am on Wednesday, Tim Shepherd from tournament sponsor Emirates, gave great insight as to the type of guy Spieth is.
The pros have every excuse to not say a word to the three amateurs they’re playing with, and dissect the holes with their coach and caddy, figuring out execution and angles on a course they’re going to attack in earnest the day after.
Not Spieth.
“He was simply great; courteous and talkative. I can’t say enough, and if he goes on to win it’s just a great story for the tournament,” Shepherd said.
While I didn’t get the pleasure of playing with Spieth, I got the sense that the Texan lad had those classic Lone Star State values of humility and hospitality ingrained in his being.
He walked up to the 18th green, victorious, having plonked his wedge within three metres of the cup. There was no fanfare, just appreciation for the moment as he returned the applause of the crowd gathered around every angle of the green.
Think of that! A golfer returning the applause of the crowd! It’s not really how it’s supposed to go when you are about to smash the course record with an eight-under 63.
The significance of that particular number wasn’t lost on anyone, either, on a weekend like the one just gone.
A birdie from three metres, a wave of the hand, and very little fanfare.
Nothing to match the huge “Come on Aussie” that burst forth from Adam Scott when he won the Masters, or even the vigorous shaking of the fist McIlroy employs upon victory.
No, it was a very demure celebration from the young gun coming from behind to usurp the two expected to dominate the headlines and the tournament. There’s no confusing him for a showboat. Six shots was the gap to the nearest rival, quality Aussie player Rod Pampling.
What a win. What a round. What a weekend of golf.
The last week might have been shrouded in tragedy, but watching 21-year-old Spieth shake off some quality Australian players, and leave the world number one and three for dead was surely the highlight of the sporting weekend.
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