Jordan Spieth wins The Masters: 3 things we learned

Jordan Spieth wins The Masters, and here are three things we learned from Augusta National.

The 2015 edition of The Masters tournament has come to an end, and Jordan Spieth is donning the green jacket. Spieth lead the event at the end of every round after an impressive -8 on Thursday. He came into the final round with a comfortable cushion and was never in any real danger, and whenever someone got close to Spieth he responded to keep the gap.

He finished at an impressive -18 to win, which ties the record for the lowest total over 270 holes in Masters history.

So, here are three things we learn from Spieth’s historic win at The Masters.

1. He can handle the pressure

Spieth had an impressive first round that saw him race out to an eight stroke lead. During that round Spieth was flirting with the single round record at any major heading into the 15th hole before he showed a flash of being mortal.

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Spieth is just 21 years old, a relative kid amongst seasoned veterans and hungry champions like Rory McIlroy, who was looking to complete a career grand slam by donning the green jacket. Tiger Woods played relatively well and was lurking at T-6th heading into Sunday, while Phil Mickelson was in the mix as well.

None of that fazed Spieth. He reportedly played cards with his grandparents one night between rounds, staying humble and down to earth despite leading the sport’s most prestigious tournament. He came out on Friday after an impressive Thursday and shot a -6 to stay ahead. If there was any mishap it was his -2 in each of the final rounds.

Spieth was so far ahead, that a two strokes under-par score was nothing to worry about. He’d come out on Sunday and continue chugging away and while he wasn’t as dominant as he was in the first two-rounds, he didn’t hurt himself either. He was consistent, calm, cool and collected, shot well enough to extend his lead by a couple strokes and expand the gap.

The gravity of the situation did not take a toll on him.

Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose were on Spieth’s heels waiting for him to slip up and finished with scores of -14, scores that would’ve won The Masters in 73 out of 78 editions of the event.

What might be the best indicator of this, and perhaps a shot that foreshadowed his ability to stay ahead, is a shot from his first-round. He was doing well, and a bad shot on the 14th but him in a precarious spot, tree in the way, almost in the pine needles.

It didn’t cause him any stress, he kept his cool and drills a shot that hits the pin nearly getting an eagle on the hole.

2. He is better than we probably thought

Not since since Tiger Woods won with a -18 in 1997 have wee seen as dominant a performance as Spieth’s. Halfway through the final round, Spieth hit his 26th birdie of the tournament which was a new record.

When he did so, it moved him to -18 which pulled him level with the best score at the tournament ever, the mark set by Woods in 1997. The other thing to consider here, is that the course has been lengthened since 1997, making Spieth’s 72-hole score to win in 2015 more impressive than what Tiger did. He almost broke the record, but ended up tying at -18.

Woods won that tournament by a staggering 12 stroke margin, and that might be the only record Spieth didn’t approach during this tournament, despite spending most of it between four and six strokes in the lead.

Woods won $486,000 in 1997, and Spieth just earned himself a considerably larger pay day by winning, $1,800,000. If you want to use earnings to measure the success so far in his young career, he has almost cracked the too 100 career earnings.

And this is all of us being blind sided by what he did on Sunday during the final round and his overall score. He flirted with the course record for 18 holes and the best single round score, not only at The Masters, but in any Major tournament.

3. Spieth looks poised to be the next big American golfer, and Rory McIlroy’s rival

At 21 years old, the hype around Spieth is incredible and it should be. He has just won his first major win at arguably the sport’s most prestigious tournament, with a whole slate of majors ahead of him in 2015. He could pick up another or two before the year is over with.

He is also the fifth American in the last 100 years to win a major at 21 or younger.

Not only did he win, but he dominated leading wire to wire. That is something incredibly difficult to do at any tournament, let alone the biggest. In fact, it hasn’t been done since 1976.

At just 21, Spieth has a lot of golf and a lot of tournaments and majors to contend for beyond this year. Perhaps even two decades of dominant golf lies ahead of him, something that could see him chase double digit majors.

We won’t get too carried away and say Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18, but has anyone since Tiger showed as much potential to challenge for that record as Spieth does now?

This was supposed to be the beginning of Rory McIlroy’s era. It was his opportunity to win the career grand slam and take the torch from Tiger Woods as the next big thing in golf. Nike even released an ad depiciting McIlroy picking up golf’s torch from Tiger, which they released before the tournament, albeit a moving and touching tribute.

Perhaps they should’ve saved it for if McIlroy won.

While McIlroy played well and was in contention for the most part, Spieth had this tournament under his thumb since the moment he teed off. Spieth crashed McIlroy’s party and announced his presence to the golf world with a huge statement.

What this does mean is that might be a new version of the Tiger Woods vs Sergio Garcia rivalry that never quite lived up to the hype, because it was extremely lopsided. And by extremely, we mean entirely.

McIlroy is from Ireland, Spieth the next big golfer in the United States. Think of the new dynamics surrounding the Ryder Cup with a European and American heavyweight, who are both in their twenties, duking it out.

It also presents another intriguing rivalry, Nike vs Under Armour. You know Nike had to be furious seeing Under Armour – Spieth’s sponsor – plastered all over Masters coverage on television.

The McIlroy vs Spieth rivalry might be a bad thing for McIlroy, patriotism could leave American fans leaning toward’s Spieth direction and hurt the Irishman’s popularity. It could also be an incredible storyline for golf that keeps the sport compelling for years to come since both men are still so young.

Our Mark Carman thinks Spieth can even save golf.

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