Spieth, Jordan

Jordan Spieth, (born July 27, 1993, Dallas, Texas, U.S.), American professional golfer who, at age 21, won the 2015 Masters Tournament and the U.S. Open, two of golf’s most prestigious events. He captured a third major title when he won the 2017 British Open.

Spieth began hitting a golf ball at age four and began playing the sport regularly at age 10 after his family joined a country club. Spieth’s talent became apparent in 2009 when he won the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. He earned a second U.S. Junior Amateur title in 2011, making him the second golfer, after Tiger Woods, to win that event multiple times. Spieth played golf collegiately at the University of Texas. During his freshman year, in 2012, he led the team in scoring and helped it win the National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s golf national championship. That year Spieth also qualified for the U.S. Open and registered the low amateur score, tying for 21st place in the tournament. His Open success and ranking as the number one amateur golfer in the world contributed to Spieth’s decision to turn professional later that year.

Spieth won his first Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) tournament, the John Deere Classic, in July 2013, becoming (at age 19) the youngest PGA winner in 82 years. He made headlines again the following year when he finished second at the 2014 Masters Tournament, becoming the youngest runner-up in the event’s history. The following year, he made 28 birdies during Masters play to set a new tournament record, and he became the only golfer in the tournament’s history to reach 19 under par at any point during the four days of play. By bogeying the final hole, Spieth finished at 18 under par, tying Woods for the best all-time final score at the Masters while winning his first major title. He followed that feat by winning the U.S. Open by one stroke and spurring speculation that he might capture a “Grand Slam” by winning all four major tournaments in a calendar year. While he did not achieve that historic feat, he finished tied for fourth at the British Open and second at the PGA Championship, which made him, for a time, the top-ranked golfer in the world.

Spieth’s 2016 season was marred by a disastrous performance at the Masters, where he squandered a five-shot lead going into the final nine holes of the tournament, resulting in a disappointing second-place finish. He eventually won two PGA events that season but failed to place higher than 13th place in any of the subsequent major tournaments that year. In 2017 Spieth earned a measure of redemption by battling through another pending final-round collapse to win the British Open by three strokes. His difficulties on the golf course continued, however, and he went almost four years before winning another PGA event, the 2021 Texas Open.