To avoid Woods’ plight, Spieth must be himself
Jordan Spieth’s latest feat – a third major before the age of 24 with his Open win at Royal Birkdale – is something only previously achieved by Jack Nicklaus.
Sunday’s shot all the way from the practice ground, when struggling on the 13th, was reminiscent of Seve Ballesteros’ famous car park shot in his first Open win at Royal Lytham in 1979.
But Spieth’s most regular comparison is with Tiger Woods, who he can now surpass as the youngest winner of a career grand slam by claiming next month's US PGA at Quail Hollow.
For now, the 23-year-old Texan is not keen on comparisons with former legends and made as much clear when asked about it.
"I'll be careful with my answer," Spieth said Sunday when asked about his place among the greats. "It's amazing. I feel blessed to be able to play the game I love, but I don't think comparisons ... I don't compare myself. And I don't think that they're appropriate or necessary. So to be in that company no doubt is absolutely incredible, and I certainly appreciate it.
"But I'm very careful as to what that means going forward," he added, "Because what those guys have done has transcended the sport. And in no way, shape or form do I think I'm anywhere near that whatsoever. So it's a good start, but there is a long way to go."
Of course there is. Time always passes at the same speed and it will be up to Spieth to continue on his rocket-propelled trajectory to all-time greatness. Doing that on the course, with his level of talent, will take care of itself, but the most important thing he can do now is be true to who Jordan Spieth is as a person.
Ever since Tiger Woods’ fall from grace, there has been something of a longing within the sport for a superstar to replace him. Golf has not struggled for the bold, with Ricky Fowler hardly a shy character, nor has it been wanting for talent, with Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson among those playing lights-out golf.
But Spieth is so young and so phenomenally gifted that he alone has the chance to step up and become a dominant player and brand in a way not seen since that trademark red polo was swaggering victoriously down final fairways around the globe, becoming a global name outside the sport.
Woods’ biggest mistake, analysed through the laser-corrected vision of hindsight, was allowing his public persona to become so stage-managed and artificial, so distant and divergent from his true self, that eventually it reached a breaking point. Sport loves bad boys and had Woods entered his career in a way that didn’t necessarily flaunt his vices but that showed him as normal human being, the fall from grace would almost certainly not have been so explosively catastrophic.
The push of sponsors and his management, consumed by the pursuit of endorsements, led to a militantlymaintained image, and shiny family pictures that portrayed a character that did not exist. The person smiling from the raft of advertisements was not Eldrick Tont Woods – it was Tiger™ - and when those two realities had drifted far enough apart, the bottom fell out of his public image as a cascade of sordid revelations shattered a narrative that needn’t have been created.
For Spieth, a young man with everything ahead of him, the lesson is obvious. You may not have the vices that eventually sunk Tiger, you may not have the problems that beset him and you may not have his marketability.
But you might just have the same level of talent, and in many ways you are what golf has been searching for.
Jordan Spieth will likely, one day, complete the Grand Slam and he will surely become a golfing great, but that is why the comparisons are needless and the path he must take is obvious - he must be the Dallas born, basketball-loving guy he is. Nobody else.
Combine that with this level of talent and everything will take care of itself.