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Jordan Spieth: Golf's golden ambassador

Jordan Spieth. (Photo: AP)
Expert
24th November, 2015
1

American Jordan Spieth is the best thing to happen to world golf since Tiger Woods disgraced himself and the sport.

He’s not only the nicest kid in the world, according to veteran Ernie Els, but he’s the very best golfer in the world. And he is 22.

And he’s on duty at the Australian Golf Club starting tomorrow, defending the Australian Open title he so sensationally won by six shots, firing in a record eight-under 63 in the final round.

It was champagne golf, from a champagne golfer.

The world’s number one and current US Masters and US Open champion tees off early tomorrow morning with Lee Westwood, one of the best in the world never to win a major, and Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion.

That’s the marquee group in the field described by Australian Masters champion Peter Senior as “one of the strongest we’ve seen”.

The 56-year-young Senior will be with Brett Rumford, and the very talented American Bryson DeChambeau, the current US Amateur and NCAA Division 1 champion.

Only Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Woods, and Ryan Moore have won the two big amateur titles in the same year.

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DeChambeau is unique with all the shafts of his irons and wedges the same length, and the size of his club grips are more like a cricket bat.

Adam Scott, who let a five-shot lead dissipate at the Masters, will be with John Senden and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.

One of the more interesting groups will be Greg Chalmers, Steve Bowditch, and Darren Clarke.

Leftie Chalmers is a three-time national champion, Bowditch a two-time winner on the USPGA tour and a two-up winner over Jimmy Walker on the final day of the Presidents Cup, and the very popular Clarke was 2011 British Open champion and captain of the 2016 European Ryder Cup team.

Marc Leishman, runner-up in the British Open to Zach Johnson, has been grouped with Robert Allenby and Matt Jones. It will be interesting to see how the Australian Club crowd reacts to Allenby, who rarely goes out of his way to be pleasant.

A vastly different story with his career-long Melbourne ‘twin’ Stuart Appleby, one of only six golfers who have shot 59 – Al Geiberger in 1977, Chip Beck in 1991, David Duval in 1999, Paul Goydos in 2010 in the same year as Appleby, with Jim Furyk the latest in 2013.

Appleby has been drawn with Peter Lonard, and Steve Allan – all three former Australian Open champions.

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Leading tee times tomorrow, * off the 10th:

*6.55am – Peter Senior, Brett Rumford, Bryson DeChambeau

*7.05 – Jordan Spieth, Lee Westwood, Geoff Ogilvy

*7.15 – Greg Chalmers, Steve Bowditch, Darren Clarke

11.50 – Peter Lonard,Stuart Appleby, Syeve Allan

12.10 – Adam Scott, John Senden, Nicolas Colsearts

12.20 – Robert Allenby, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones

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