By MIKE KERN
So what does the Masters and the Lehigh Valley have in common?
Well, until the last two Aprils, probably not a whole lot.
But 21-year-old Texan Jordan Spieth has changed that. Forever.
The Dallas native became the second-youngest to ever win a green jacket, one year he nearly became the youngest in his Masters debut. And he did so by going wire-to-wire (no ties), something that hadn’t been done at Augusta National since Ray Floyd pulled it off almost four decades earlier. Despite a closing bogey he shot 18-under 270, which equalled Tiger Woods’ scoring record from 1997 when he was the same age, to beat 2013 U.S. Open champion and three-time winner Phil Mickelson by four. Which is what he’d led by after Saturday.
Along the way Spieth became the youngest first-round leader (64) and set records for lowest 36-hole (130) and 54-hole (200) totals. He also became the first since fellow Texan Ben Crenshaw — who was playing in his last Masters — in 1984 to win the year after coming in second.
It was surely epic stuff.
Last year Spieth was the co-leader going into the final day before finishing runner-up, three behind 2012 champ Bubba Watson. This time it was all his, all the way.
So why was it such a big deal in certain parts of Pennsylvania? Turns out there’s no shortage of reasons.
His father Shawn was an athlete at Saucon Valley High School. As was his mother, Chris. Shawn played basketball at Lehigh University, while Chris did the same at Moravian College. They eventually ended up in Dallas, where they had three children. Jordan is the oldest. Steven plays hoops at Brown. His sister Ellie is a special-needs teenager who Jordan credits with providing much of his inspiration as a person and competitor. All except Ellie were waiting to greet him after he walked off the 18th green on Sunday. So was his maternal grandfather, Bob Julius, a retired Bethlehem Steel engineer who lives in North Carolina. His uncle Stow, Shawn’s brother who lives in suburban Philadelphia, was there as well. In fact, he caddied for Jordan in Wednesday’s par-3 tournament.
His paternal grandfather Donald was watching at home in Bethlehem, with tears in his eyes. A music teacher and orchestra conductor, he attended last year.
So there are local connections. Obviously emotional ones.
“He’s just a good kid,” Donald said. “It’s really interesting. A lot of people feel like they know him, because they know me.
“It’s a given I am proud about how he played … (but also) as a young man and how he’s shown himself.”
As Crenshaw said during his pre-tournament interview: “He’s way more mature than I was at 21. I think the world of him.
You know, when I first met him, I’ll tell you I’ll never forget it. I looked right at him and he looked at me and I thought I was looking at Wyatt Earp. He just had that look about him.”
Golf is of course always looking for the next whatever. Especially since Tiger Woods, who played for the first time in two months and 73-69-68-73 — to tie for 17th with Sergio Garcia, has been mostly MIA for the past 14 months. Rory McIlroy, who’s only four years older than Spieth, would seem to have the inside track on being the most likely successor, since he’s got four majors already. He went 71-71-68-66 to get fourth, after playing with Woods in the last round. But he’s never won this major. He was trying to win his third grand-slam event in a row, something only Ben Hogan (1953) and Tiger (2000-01) have done in the modern era. When he was 21, in 2011, he led after 63 holes before pulling his tee shot at No. 10 into the cabins en route to a closing 43. It happens.
A year ago Spieth held a 2-shot lead early on Sunday. This time, his lead on the final day never dipped below three. And that was on the front nine. It looked like there could be a 2-shot swing on the par-3 16th, when Rose had a 15-foot birdie putt and Spieth hit it over the green, that would’ve cut the margin to a deuce. But Spieth got up and down, saving par by nailing an 8-footer, and Rose’s try slid just by on the low side. And that was pretty much it.
About the only thing Spieth didn’t do was break Tiger’s 72-hole mark, by hitting it into the woods on 18 and missing his par putt, although it didn’t seem to matter much to him. Maybe another time.
“I was already hungry from last year, watching it slip away,” said Spieth, whose three starts prior to Augusta had produced a win and two seconds. “You get reminded of it all the time. This is a different legacy.
“I took my mind off this moment the last week. But it’s very, very special to join the club.”
You think? Regardless of where his career takes him, he has a lifetime invitation to the annual Champion’s Dinner. As perks go, that might be impossible to trump.
“It’s the most incredible week of my life,” he went on. “This is as great as it gets in our sport. It’s a dream for me … I’m excited already about coming back. And being the Masters champion. That carries a heavy weight. I hope I’ll be ready for it, and what it means. I’m sure I’ll figure that out.
“I might not take the jacket off for awhile. To hear the cheoes at this place, it’s magical. This has always been my ultimate goal. I may have to change that.”
He’s the fourth to win in his second appearance. He broke the tourney record for birdies with 28. The high had been 25, by Mickelson in 2001 when he shot 275 to finish third, three in back of Tiger.
Spieth is also the eighth Texan to win at least once, and the first since Crenshaw in 1995. The list includes Jimmy Demaret (with three), Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson (two apiece). It’s always about the company you keep.
“It’s nice to get that major tally up and running at an early age,” said McIlroy, who got his first at 21, two months after he lost his chance at the Masters.
Added Rose: “Every time I thought there may be a chink in the armor, he holed (something). It really shouldn’t be that easy.”
And this, from Mickelson: “I just got outplayed. At the start of the week I would have taken 14-under. I thought that might win. But 18-under is astounding. It’s hard not to like (him).”
Some folks already knew. Feel free to spread the word.
“I thought (Sunday) might be easier (than Saturday),” Spieth said. “It wasn’t. Very nerve-racking. I didn’t get much sleep.
“The hardest part was just managing the situation, the mental side of it. There’s a lot of time to think through scenarios.”
Going forward, it’s hard not to be in awe of those possibilities.
