Mind Game

Jordan Spieth has the abundant talent and, more importantly, the acute mental toughness to join the ranks of the best golfers of all time.

- Keith Gordon

As the ball sliced far to the right of the 13th fairway at Royal Birkdale, near Liverpool, England, eventually landing on an overgrown hillside, Jordan Spieth looked on helplessly, if not hopelessly. It was the final round of the 2017 Open Championship, which Spieth had started with a three-shot margin over fellow American golfer Matt Kuchar. But, the lead was a distant memory now; Spieth’s inconsistent play had allowed Kuchar to narrow the gap leading up to the 13th. To make matters worse, Spieth couldn’t find a playable second shot from the spot his drive had come to rest. It looked like an epic collapse on one of golf ’s biggest stages, and from one of the sport’s brightest young talents.

Spieth might have thought he was experiencing a bad case of déjà vu. Just over a year earlier, he’d suffered one of the more painful defeats in recent golf history. His struggles on the 12th hole in the final round of the 2016 Masters, which cost him his lead and a second green jacket, were historic in their own right. After hitting a terrible shot into the water, Spieth had a simple approach to try and salvage the hole. But, in a moment recognisable to every frustrated weekend golfer, he completely mishit the ball, which ended up in the water again. It’s one thing to merely hit a bad shot, but pro golfers don’t usually shank one completely. In a sport defined by psychological strength and emotional steadiness, Spieth had produced his worst possible shot at the worst possible time.