SWINGING BACK INTO ACTION
Masters champ Spieth playing RBC Heritage
The kid likes to play a lot of golf.
Newly minted Masters champion Jordan Spieth won’t have much time to rest on his laurels as he’s putting the peg in the ground today in the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.
It will be his fourth tournament in four weeks — the second time this season he’s playing four in a row.
With upcoming dates in the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Match Play, Players Championship and his second Texas two-step of the season at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship, he’ll have played 14 of 18 weeks.
Even after a blitz of New York, where he made 25 appearances in 25 hours after his record-setting tour de force in the Masters, Spieth didn’t give a second thought about playing this week.
Especially since he received a sponsor’s exemption from the tournament in 2013 when he didn’t have full playing status on the PGA Tour.
“This tournament has been very good to me,” Spieth, 21, said Wednesday when he made the tournament media center his 26th appearance since the Masters. He tied for ninth here in 2013 and tied for 12th last year. “It’s a tournament that’s close to me, and I love it here.
“I don’t plan on having a hangover tournament, by any means. I feel like this course is a good course for me. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t feel like I could win this week.”
Spieth enjoyed taking Manhattan, too, where he proudly wore the green jacket, lauded his team for his first major title and gazed at the Empire State Building ’s top floors that were lit green in his honor.
He was as comfortable with his pairing with David Letterman on
Late Show, giving putting tips to Michael Bloomberg and chatting up former president Bill Clinton in his foundation’s office as he was with walking up the 18th fairway Sunday.
“It was really cool,” Spieth said. “It was cool to experience that different side and to see the impact that the Masters has internationally, and not only in the golf community. And it just shows the interest in golf and how it’s growing.”
The Big Apple, however, left him a bit drained.
“Yesterday my energy level was maybe at a two,” he said. “Today I’m back up to about a six. I should be at a nine tomorrow.”
Spieth received nearly 200 emails and text messages since Bubba Watson helped him slip on the coveted green garment. There likely would have been more, but he recently changed his number. He says he has tried to respond to all.
“Which is tough, because I send about two emails a year,” he said.
Spieth has gone 1-2-2-1 his last four starts and won four tournaments worldwide in four months, with each victory raising his stature on and off the course.
But a victory in the Masters brings a whole new level of attention and scrutiny. There’s no reason to think, however, that he won’t remain respectful, humble and grounded..
“On course we’re not going to change anything that we’re doing,” he said. “And off course I don’t want to change anything that I’m doing. But at the same time there’s obviously more of a spotlight now. ... I understand that there are positives and negatives to a spotlight. And we’re going to try to take advantage of the positives and just push aside the negatives or those that are just looking for something to say.”
And while a victory in the Masters has been a goal since he was 12, there remains one large target that will keep him focused while his fame and fortune rise.
“There’s still a guy to chase. Rory (McIlroy) is No. 1 in the world,” said Spieth, who climbed to No. 2 in the world rankings. “I wouldn’t come to a tournament just to come to a tournament, especially with that goal still in mind. ... I’m obviously not as prepared, maybe, as I’d like to be, as far as getting on the golf course. I won’t have played one hole before Thursday. But I am going to practice some today and try and get myself back to the shape we were just a few days ago.”