With his win on Sunday at the John Deere Classic, 19-year-old Jordan Spieth becomes the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since 1931. He also gains full PGA Tour membership and a two-year PGA Tour exemption. He will be invited to the Open Championship, Masters Tournament, PGA Championship and WGC tournaments.
Life is good when you are a teenage winner on the PGA Tour.
He moves to No. 11 in the FedEx Cup standings guaranteeing a spot in the lucrative FedEx Cup Playoffs. He climbs to No. 59 on the Official World Golf Rankings and can now be considered a factor to make Freddie Couple’s USA Presidents Cup Team.
Spieth turned professional at the end of 2012. He had no status on any tour at the beginning of the year. Playing the PGA Tour solely on sponsor’s exemptions, he collected a runner-up at the Puerto Rico Open his third start of the year.
The high finish at Puerto Rico gave him Special Temporary Exemption status on the PGA Tour which allowed him unlimited sponsor’s exemptions to tour events.
He collected a T-7 at Tampa, a T-9 at Hilton Head, another T-7 at the Crowne Plaza and a solo sixth place finish in the AT&T National at Congressional. Five top-10 finishes in just 15 starts had earned him $1.2 million and a guarantee of a shiny new PGA Tour playing card for 2014.
The win at the John Deere gives him his sixth top-10 finish of the year and brings his winnings to over $2 million.
The win did not come easy. He had to hole a bunker shot on the 72nd hole to get to 19 under-par and hold the clubhouse lead. David Hearn turned in a three birdie, one bogey round of 69 to tie Spieth.
Both had to wait as 54-hole leader and defending champion Zach Johnson got to 20-under par but made bogey at the last and created a three-way tie for the lead after regulation play.
The ensuing playoff took five holes to determine the winner. The three matched pars on the first four holes until Spieth made a spectacular par on the fifth playoff hole from the trees and the other two players made bogey.
The John Deere does not always draw the best field because it comes the week prior to the Open Championship but it never lacks for thrills and low scoring at TPC Deere Run.
Look out Rory, the new wave of young golfers is ready to take center stage. Golf fans will be hearing and seeing a lot of Jordan Spieth in the future.