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Another Reason We Love Jordan Spieth

Tim Finchem’s baby, The FedEx Cup Playoffs start tomorrow with The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey.

World number one Jordan Spieth leads the top 125 PGA Tour golfers (minus two) in the chase for the FedEx Cup and a bonus check of $10,000,000 to the winner.

PGA: PGA Championship - Third RoundSpieth sits comfortably in first place of the points race but the format has changed this year with the tour hoping for a little less volatility in the final weeks. So Spieth could probably take this week off and still be in fine shape. But that’s not his style.

Rory McIlroy, 9th in Cup points and Sergio Garcia, 31st are taking a pass on The Barclays but passing on a Playoff event isn’t in Spieth’s DNA.

And that’s one of the many things we love about America’s Golfer. Spieth seems to do everything right whether it is on or off the course and especially in front of a microphone.

Yesterday he spoke of the final holes at the PGA Championship and how with his chances at victory fading he was able to step back and appreciate what Jason Day, his opponent and friend was experiencing.

For me, when I was playing with Jason, that was my fourth or fifth major championship round this year with him. And I’ve seen the falls that he’s had this year and the close calls and how badly, how he and Colin, how hard they work. I saw it week-to-week how much they wanted to really, really focus on the majors, and to come up so close.

So I recognized what was going through his veins on that Sunday and how if he opened the door just slightly, that I was ready to pounce on it.

At the end there, even though there was only a few holes left, there can be a three-shot swing very, very quickly in a major championship, especially on those holes. Those are hard holes. And so I’ve just recognized a fantastic performance at the end under pressure, under extreme pressure; someone who had been closer so many times than I had, and I had only been close really once before I won mine, the second time I was in contention, really.

He just had the wrong timing. He just had guys that played a little bit better or he just got bad bounces. And so I recognized that he pulled off the right shots. There was no luck involved. I was giving a thumbs-up as just a sign of recognizing how special I knew that that was.day spieth shake

By the time I knew it was time for me to go, I was ready to drain a putt and give a fist pump and let him hear me. But watching his as I’m reading my putt in that little bit of down time, you recognize what he’s going through and how special those two days were for him.

On 18, after he hit his first putt, obviously when we were walking up to the green, I knew I was done. And so, let him have his moment after his first putt. For me, I was in a position where I could 3-putt; I could 4-putt, nothing was going to change my position; I could make it.

So I could sit back and kind of somewhat enjoy it with him in a way. Obviously I was upset at some of my mistakes that day, but at that moment, you just want to be happy for a friend, and it’s the same thing with Zach at the end of The Open Championship. He’s a friend, as well, and it’s nice when the good guys prevail and happen to be buddies, as well.

So here’s Spieth in the heat of competition, during a season with unbearable pressure being able to appreciate Day’s effort. And what’s even more amazing is he is willing to admit it.

It’s an openness and an honesty we haven’t seen from many golfers. And it’s just one more reason why it is so very easy to love Jordan Spieth.

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