Jordan Spieth has been a superstar in the making since he was a kid in Dallas, Texas competing in junior tournaments. From the time he was a young child, people knew he would eventually be a superstar.
But in the time before social media, that assured stardom was not common knowledge to people outside Spieth’s home state. Back then, social media was not nearly popular as it is today and so Spieth’s stardom spread by word of mouth.
By the time Spieth was playing on the PGA Tour as a 19-year-old, he was a known commodity, but his star status was far from guaranteed. On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar, Tour veteran Graham Delaet shared his own tale of when he knew the young Texan had something special.
The two were paired up in the Houston Open when Spieth was not yet a Tour member and had to rely on sponsor’s invites to claim a spot in tournament fields. Because of this, every event had immense importance.
Delaet recalls Spieth struggling on the Saturday after he made the cut. For most players, this would have them completely rattled. Not so much for Spieth.
“He was so cool and collected,” Delaet said. “If I was 19 and knew how important this was, and was four over on the day, I would’ve been losing my mind. He was the coolest thing. That’s when I knew this kid had something special.”
Check out the entire episode of Subpar below as Delaet recounts his battle with the yips, what he’d change about the Olympic format and more.
