Jordan Spieth already has four top-10 finishes in seven events this season. One of them came over the weekend at the Valspar Championship, which took place in Palm Harbor, Fla. on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook.
The 21-year-old captured his second career victory with a 28-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole (No. 17) on Sunday. He redeemed himself after missing a makeable 12-footer on No. 16 that would have won the event. The three men parred the first two playoff holes before Spieth birdied the par-3 17th.
Spieth finished with a 69 in the final round of the event after going up-and-down on the 18th hole to force a three-way playoff with Patrick Reed and Sean O'Hair. Reed also holed a 30-foot birdie putt to keep his chances alive and O'Hair went up-and-down to save par on the final hole. But it was Spieth's heroics that captured the spotlight. He finished 10-under on the day and earned $1,062,000 as well as 500 FedEx Cup points with the victory.
According to Golf.com, Spieth joined Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Robert Gamez as the only PGA Tour golfers since 1940 to win two professional tournaments before the age of 22. His last win came in 2013 at the John Deere Classic when he was just 19 years old. The event also featured a three-man playoff with Zach Johnson and David Hearn and helped Spieth earn full status as a PGA Tour member.
The youngster started fast during yesterday's round and birdied the first two holes, but then bogeyed five and six to remain even through the 12th hole. He then birded 13 and 14 and parred the rest to force a playoff to propel him to victory and gain momentum for what's to come.
With the Masters just around the corner, Spieth has put himself in a good position to make a run at his first major championship. He finished in second in that major last year after being humbled by Bubba Watson in the final round.
"Spieth is plenty long (30th on Tour in driving distance at a step shy of 300 yards) and seems to be getting stronger-he's just a bit crooked off the tee (135th in the rankings heading into the Valspar)," writes senior editor of Sports Illustrated, Mark Godich. "With that putting stroke, he can win pretty much anywhere, and I think this victory (and the manner in which he won) is going to open the floodgates. Spieth will win twice more this year, and one of those might be a major."
The Texas Open and Houston Open will take place before the Masters (Apr. 9-12), so we'll see how Spieth utilizes his momentum in the next few weeks.
