Jordan Spieth - Masters Champion

"This was arguably the greatest day of my life."

Leading up to Masters Week I had picked four players who I thought would win the 2015 Masters.  I am happy to say that all four of my picks made it into the weekend and three of them in the top 5 (Jordan Spieth 1, Phil Mickelson T2, Rory McIlroy 4, and Rickie Fowler T12).  It was such a fun weekend watching Jordan Spieth light up Augusta National.  His performance was phenomenal.  The 21 year old from Texas is currently ranked 1st in the FedEx Cup and 2nd in the Official World Golf Ranking.  He has 3 career wins two of which come from this season.  He won at the Valspar Championship in March, and as you all know The Masters this past weekend.

Review these and other historic Masters moments here.

Jordan has been dreaming of winning The Masters for most of his life.  At 14 years old he was taking lessons from Cameron McCormick.  When he started he told his swing coach his goal was to win The Masters.  Now I can see why second place at his first Masters appearance last year stung so bad.  He made a fantastic come back this year, not only winning but breaking and tying all kinds of records.  Spieth has only played 8 rounds in tournament at Augusta national, all of which are at par or better, 7 are under par, with an average of 69.1 and 23 strokes to par.  This is a talented young player.  After shooting an opening round of 64 on Thursday he never lead by fewer than 3 strokes.  Spieth became the 2nd youngest Masters Champion of all time, joining Tiger Woods in 1997.  He also is the first to win the year after a 2nd place finish since Ben Crenshaw in 1984.  He is the first to win wire-to-wire since Raymond Floyd in 1976, and tied Tiger for all time tournament low of 18 under par.  Spieth is clearly not satisfied with just winning.  He broke the record for lowest 36 and 54 hole lead, as well as the most birdies in tournament posting 28 birdies.  This record was previously held by Phil Mickelson with 25 birdies.  Finally, Jordan was the first player to ever reach 19 under par at any time during the tournament.  

Jordan is obviously a great player, but he is also a great person off the course.  This young player is everything I think a professional golfer should be.  As Phil Mickelson said, "the object of golf is not just to win.  It's to play like a gentleman, and win."  I couldn't agree more with Phil and Jordan has done just that and has been so humble throughout the whole thing.  The morning after his win he tweeted "Well...I'm glad that wasn't a dream."  It is fun to watch great players win, but I love watching people like Phil and Jordan do well and win.  He is a people's champion.  Golf Digest has compared him to Seve Ballesteros and Arnold Palmer.  

Spieth, like many other players support and give to charities.  He has also created one of his own, the Jordan Spieth Charitable Trust.  He started this organization in 2014 to raise awareness of and donate time and money to special needs youth, military families, and junior golf.  Spieth has a 14 year old sister with special needs and she is his biggest fan and his inspiration.  You will want to watch this video where Jordan explains his charity and his goals.  

Spieth is a great player with great character.  He will win many more tournaments and majors to come, and I see him doing a lot of good for the game of golf.  I could not be more excited to see what the future has for this new Masters Champ.  

Bubba Watson

"Golf is about charity ... it's about giving back ... if I'm gonna grow as a person, grow as a human being, I wanna give back."

        -Bubba Watson Uninterrupted 

Bubba Watson.  He is currently ranked #3 in the Official World Golf Rankings, 5th in the FedEx Cup, and is a two-time Masters Champion.  He turned pro in 2002 and has 7 career wins on the PGA Tour.  He is a self made golfer, he has never had a lesson just natural talent to out drive the best.  Not only is he an amazing player but he is a devoted Christian, loving father and husband, a member of the boy band Golf Boys, and a man that wears his emotions on his sleeve.

Stats and Profile here

Bubba is back at Augusta National this week as the defending champion and is looking for his third Green Jacket.  He won his first Masters Tournament in 2012, gave the Jacket to Adam Scott in 2013 and won his second title last year in 2014.  He has confidence that he can do it again too, and rightfully so, as #3 in the world and placing in the top 25 of all 5 events he has played this season.  After his 2014 Masters win he told ESPN that he believes he will always be able to come back and win at Augusta, injuries permitting of course, but he believes he will always be able to come back and be confident like Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples.

What makes Bubba so confident?  I don't think it is his distance, I believe it is his ability to see the shot he needs to make, and then actually make it get out of trouble.  Bubba knows how to save par.  His caddie Ted Scott reported Bubba's most memorable Masters shots, all of which were recovery shots he made to save par.  Number four on the list was from the 2012 Masters, it was the 2nd round on the par-4 7th hole.  He was in the trees and had a 10 foot gap about 50 yards ahead he needed to make it through to get on the green.  Scott advised him against it, but Bubba was confident, and there is no arguing with Bubba when he is confident, Scott says "it's like telling Picasso he can't paint a painting."  Based on this list, don't be worried for Bubba if you see him in the trees and pine needle this weekend at Augusta, he knows how to get out and you can bet, if he is feeling confident he will save par.

Golf is obviously a large part of Bubba's life, but the most important thing in his life is his family.  He has demonstrated that this season.  He has only played in 5 events so far because he knows it is more important for him to bond with his newly adopted daughter Dakota.

"It's a blessing for Angie and me that these beautiful kids are now ours

and we get to raise them.  Winning golf tournaments is great, and I hope I can 

keep doing it, but I know that the most important thing I'm going to do in 

this lifetime is be a dad to Caleb and Dakota."

 He is a family man for sure, he and his wife Angie adopted their first child, Caleb, in 2012 just a week before The Masters.  In an interview with golf.com Bubba said the happiest moment of his career was in 2013 when Caleb made his first appearance at the Masters Par-3 Tournament.
As I said earlier, Bubba is an emotional man and he wears all his emotions on his sleeve, we saw this when he first won The Masters in 2012, and many times since.  This has got him into some trouble though, just as his joyful emotions show easily so do his negative emotions.  There was a survey done recently that has brought a lot of heat on Bubba, but he is still one of my favorite players.  I don't love everything he has done on the course, but the good that he has done, the good that he is, outweighs all the negative emotions he has shown.  And now that he is a father of two, he is learning to control those negative emotions.  His wife Angie told golf.com that he has really matured and relaxed since they adopted Caleb in 2012 and is "able to let things go a little easier."  Bubba said that knowing his son is watching and his daughter will be, has helped him to bite his tongue and be softer on the course.

Earlier this week I predicted Fowler, Spieth, or Mickelson to win the Green Jacket this year.  I need to add Bubba to that list, and enjoy a burrito in his honor!  It would be amazing to watch him win back-to-back for his third Green Jacket.

Happy Masters Week!