Professional golf tournaments are not normally won by a margin of 10 strokes. When they are the winner’s name is usually Tiger or Rory.
That fact may be changing.
Twenty-one-year old Jordan Spieth blew away a field that included, Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, Bubba Watson, Keegan Bradly, Patrick Reed, Rickie Fowler and FedEx Cup Champion Billy Horschel, at the Hero World Challenge in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday by 10-strokes.
Spieth set up the rout by firing a superb nine-under-par 63 in the third round on Saturday. He held a seven shot lead over eventual runner-up Henrik Stenson after 54 holes and increased it to 10 shots with a final round six-under-par 66 on Sunday.
He posted four rounds of 66-67-63-66 to finish at 26-under-par at the Isleworth Golf Club. Although the $1 million first-place prize money is considered unofficial by the PGA Tour, the Hero World Challenge awards official world ranking points. Given the strength of the field, Spieth moved to No. 9 in the world ranking.
He has been on a very successful world tour over the past month with a third-place finish in the Dunlop Phoenix Open in Japan and a win in the Australian Open last week down under.
Although he did not win on the PGA Tour in 2014, he finished runner-up in both the Masters and the RBC Heritage Classic. He collected eight top-10 finishes, earned over $4 million and was No. 15 in the FedEx Cup.
Henrik Stenson is coming off a win in Dubai and has played very well at the end of the season. His final round three-under-par 69 left him in solo second place.
Patrick Reed rebounded after a poor first-round one-over-par 73 to post 63-69-68 and finish tied for third with Keegan Bradley at 15-under-par.
Jason Day finished one more shot back at 14-under-par for fifth and Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose were T-6 at 11-under-par.
Oh Yeah, Tiger Woods returned to competitive golf this week, but was never a factor and the rust on his short game was quite evident. After a horrible 77 in the first round, he posted 70-69-72 to tie with Hunter Mahan for last place.
He and his new swing consultant, Chris Como, will not have a lack of things to work on before he starts his 2015 campaign after the first of the year.