The reigning US Junior Amateur Champion…
Unless you’ve followed golf really closely, it’s likely you hadn’t heard much about Jordan Spieth. I certainly hadn’t. As it happens, the teenager has been making quite an impression on golf courses over the last year or so. The Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2009 won the US Junior Amateur Championship last year and took home the Texas state golf championship last week. But it was this week where the sports world finally took notice.
The first high-schooler at the Byron Nelson Championship since 1993…
Back in 1993, some high-school kid named Tiger Woods appeared in the Byron Nelson Championship. According to USA Today, Woods shot a 77, followed by a 72, which wasn’t good enough to make the cut, so he packed up his bags and headed home. Seventeen years later, Spieth became the most recent high school kid to play at the tournament in Irving, Texas. And he did what Woods couldn’t do back in 1993.
And made the cut at the age of 16…
Spieth had back-to-back rounds of 68 and 69, giving him the chance to play through the weekend. He followed up with rounds of 67 and 72, finishing the tournament at four-under-par, leaving him at a not-so-shabby 16th place. Had he not still been an amateur, he could have pocketed the $91,185.71 share of the prize money for finishing that well. Of course, something tells me he’ll pick up some decent paydays soon enough.
Photo by Getty Images.