Winning a major championship changes a player’s life. Winning your first major championship really changes a player’s life. And winning The Masters in record setting fashion could cause a player to actually start to believe all the great things written about them.
But I don’t think that will be the case with Jordan Spieth. Our 2015 Masters Champion became the second youngest winner at Augusta National and at twenty one years of age it would be easy to imagine him being seduced by all the trappings that come with the green jacket.
He’ll be in very high demand and endorsements and enticements and offers of all kinds will test him as he has become the face of American golf. But this young man is not your typical young phenom.
Spieth has a quiet confidence and a rare maturity for such an accomplished young man.
Many world class athletes his age have been coddled since someone realized they could make millions playing professional sports. The news is filled with stories of entitled athletes having personal and legal troubles. For the longest of times in their lives “it had always been about me.” Their athletic prowess was their ticket through high school and college and they were never responsible to anyone, especially the rules of society and decency.
That was never the case with Jordan Spieth because in his family it was never “all about him.”
His parents, Shawn and Chris always told Jordan to set goals and encouraged him and his brother Steven but they were never the only focus of their family. Jordan’s sister Ellie is a special needs child and while Jordan and Steven have been critical in Ellie’s upbringing Jordan says it is Ellie that is his hero.
His mother feels the same, “I don’t think they’d be the kind of kids they are without her.”
Being raised in a family with a special needs child Spieth has learned there are more important things than golf and himself. “It helps put things in perspective,” he says of living with Ellie. “I’m lucky to play on the Tour and compete with these guys. It’s a dream come true. I definitely attribute a lot of that to her.”
“She’s the best thing that ever happened to our family. She’s hilarious.”
Spieth still calls people Mister, and it’s “yes sir and no ma’am”. He’s polite to the ‘nth degree and while not lacking in confidence he has trouble talking about his successes. “Me speaking about humility is very difficult because that wouldn’t be humility’” he said recently. And that’s classic Spieth, if a kid so young can have anything called classic.
He’s not your typical, indulged, pampered, entitled athlete that thinks it’s all about him. He’s the kind of guy you want to date your daughter, the kind of guy that is more boy scout than boy wonder and the kind of guy that knows what is truly important in his life.
It’s his sister and his family. And the next time he sees her he’ll be wearing that green jacket.
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