Open Pressure
Why do we LOVE watching the U.S. Open Golf Tournament? Because you usually see some of the most memorable shots in golf history. Because the pressure packed event produces a true crucible of dramatic athletic competition. Because some crazy, memorable stuff always seems to happen. It sure did this year.
Jordan Spieth won this year’s U.S. Open (the 115th staging of the event) in about as dramatic of fashion as you could possible imagine. He at one point almost folded under “Open pressure,” and then later won it because the pressure undid his competitors just a little more than it undid him.
The U.S. Open golf tournament is one of the most pressure filled events in all of sports. There is so much meaning to winning the national championship of this country (and the simple fact that it IS winning a major) that it can often cause the best golfers in the world to make the same mistakes you might see on the average muni course.
This is the tournament that has been won by some of the greatest golfers who ever walked the earth. Harry Vardon, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods. Two of the other “best players ever’s (Sam Snead and Phil Mickelson) biggest regrets of their golfing careers is in NOT winning a U.S. Open when they had the chances (and succumbed to the pressure). The pressure of the U.S. Open. Winning this tournament under that pressure is the one win most golfers want the most. That’s what this is all about.
Case in point. Jordan Spieth won this year’s U.S. Open at a funky course called Chambers Bay Golf Course near Tacoma Washington. The course had so many places where things could go wrong that it seemed like the roller coaster like bumps and slopes of the course and the sheer texture of the greens (one player said it was like putting on broccoli) might decide who would win (and who WOULDN’T win) the tournament. And Spieth made one of the biggest mistakes under pressure this tournament had.
Example one. Tied for the lead at 5 under par (the score that ultimately would win the tournament), South African Brandon Grace hit a drive on the drivable par four 16th hole at least 40 yards to the right of where he was aiming and sent the drive out of bounds and nailed him with a stroke and distance penalty. In other words, after parring the hole after his second drive, Grace took a double bogey six on the hole and shot himself out of the tournament. The one place you could NOT miss on this hole was OB to the right of the OB fence. A player who likes to hook sometimes doesn’t hook enough (or just goes straight if you push a drive out there while under severe pressure). This was Open pressure. He pushed this drive out of bounds.
Next example. The 17th hole, a par three. After Grace’s error under pressure and Spieth’s holing of a birdie putt on 16, Spieth’s lead was now three shots with two holes to play. Got this one in the bag, right? A par, par finish would be easy if Spieth could just put the ball on the left side of the green and two putt his way into a par, after which a par five could be played conservatively, and a sure win would ensue.
But, Spieth pushed one off to the right about thirty plus yards off target and ended up in some of the most gnarly rough on the course. He had to really regroup and just try to limit the damage to bogey. He smashed the ball out of the rough with a near full swing to hit the ball a good thirty feet away from the hole to a safe spot on the green. He putted the ball up to three feet away, and SHOULD have sunk the putt for a bogey. But, Open pressure struck him and made him miss the very makeable putt. The three shot lead was down to one. And there was a reachable par five 18th hole awaiting.
After Spieth made two remarkable swings on the 18th hole, he had about 15 feet for an eagle, and two putts away for a birdie that would put him into the lead at five under. He accomplished just that feat and set the bar at 5 under.
Final example. Dustin Johnson had nailed a great iron stiff to the par three 17th hole to get a kick in birdie to get to four under par. He had the same reachable par five 18th to go and he is the longest hitter in golf. Two great Johnson shots later and he stared at a downhill 12 foot putt for eagle that put the entire tournament on his shoulders. Make it, and he wins the U.S. Open by one shot after the most dramatic eagle finish in history. Miss it, and tap in the birdie putt and he joins Spieth at five under for an 18 hole playoff on Monday. Or…
Johnson had just seen Jason Day with the same fast, downhill putt, and Day hit his about three and a half feet past the hole. Day made his putt coming back. That was bad news for Johnson. It made him think the Day putt coming back was easy. It wasn’t. Johnson, with a win in his sights, hit his putt the same three and a half feet past the hole (This putt was really FAST). And, with the win of a U.S. Open confidence gone, Johnson now had to make the same putt Day had just made. He MISSED the putt. He makes putts like that all the time. But not under the ultimate case of U.S. Open pressure.
Spieth had been watching the final shots unfold in front of a TV camera in the scorer’s tent. He went form thinking he might lose. To thinking there’d probably be a playoff the next day. To WINNING the U.S. Open.
And now, the sky is the limit for Spieth. With two of the toughest to win majors already under his belt at the ripe young age of 21, he now joins Rory McIlroy as the undisputed top two players in golf. He will be one of the top two favorites to win almost every major he enters for the next, what, five, ten years?
Before the Masters, there was talk of McIlroy completing his Grand Slam at Augusta. Nope. Spieth won. Then, at the U.S. Open, the talk at the tournament was about maybe Phil Mickelson winning his open and completing his slam. Nope. Jordan Spieth might reach the slam before either of them. Hell, he could still win the Grand Slam THIS year. He’s won the first two legs of it.
So, Jordan Spieth has graduated from maybe being a new, potential star of golf to being the absolute new face of the sport. This win just ensured that he will be making HUGE money from endorsements for a long, long time. Pretty hefty stuff going on for this likeable Texas kid. He’s just getting started in this, his major winning arc of his career. And he’s already handled the toughest challenge of his young career. He’s handled U.S. Open pressure.
