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.  

The Masters - Into the Weekend

We are just getting into the weekend and history has already been made in the first two days of The Masters.  There is 21 year old Jordan Spieth who is going into the weekend with a five shot lead ahead of Charley Hoffman.  Then there is Dustin Johnson who had quite the impressive eagle streak.  Before I get into the new records that were set I would like to talk about the leaderboard.  

The number to make it into the weekend was 2.  There are 55 players who made the cut and will continue playing at Augusta.  Phil went low in the second round with 5 birdies, 4 of which on the back nine, to make it to sixth place, 8 shots behind leader Jordan Spieth.  When Rory McIlroy was through 14 he was 2 shots over par for the tournament and close to following below the cut line.  He saved his weekend by making birdie on 15, 17, and 18.  He is going into the weekend 2 under for the tournament, 12 shots behind Spieth.  He is going to have to make a big move in the next two days to finish his career grand slam.  Last years champ Bubba Watson, who was one of my picks to win is also going to have to make a big move.  He is currently tied for 19th at 2 under par along side Rory McIlroy.  Another one of my picks, Rickie Fowler, who placed in the top five of every major last season made the cut, but is currently 1 over the par for the tournament.  Check out where your picks fell and the rest of the leaderboard here.

See the full story on Spieth here.

Now to the history that has been made in the past two days.  Jordan Spieth went low fast in the first round on Thursday posting a 64.  He continued his hot streak on Friday going 6 under posting a 66.  That sets him at a total of 130 through 36 holes, that is the lowest 36 hole score in Masters history.  

Photo Cred: Sports Center

Dustin Johnson also set a new record during Friday's round.  He posted 3 eagles on par-5 holes 2, 8, and 15.  That is the most eagles ever made in a single round at The Masters ever.

Check out the other stories going on this week at The Masters here on pgatour.com.