ORLANDO – Jordan Spieth and his father Shawn are rookies at the PNC Championship, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have great expectations.
“Dad wants to win,” he said on Thursday during a pre-tournament press conference. “I’ll do my best to try and help put us in a position to do so.”
A member of each team must have won at least one major or the Players Championship and Spieth became eligible by winning the Masters in 2015 for the two-day 36-hole team event that uses a two-person Scramble format.
“Anyone who I’ve talked to about it says, you’ve got to play it,” Spieth said.
It was Jordan’s dad who helped get him in the game at a young age and it wasn’t long before “the Golden Child” was whipping up on his old man.
“First time he (beat me) was a lower score than I had ever posted,” Shawn Spieth said.
Jordan, 29, figures he was nine at the time and won by six or eight.
“It was probably nine holes back then, too,” Jordan said. “That’s a beat down.”
“No, it wasn’t nine holes,” Shawn said. “You wouldn’t stop after nine.”
Jordan hasn’t stopped going low, winning three majors in all, reaching world No. 1 for a stretch and becoming a stalwart of U.S. teams in international competition.
When asked to pinpoint when he realized that his son possessed a special talent for the game, Shawn told a great story of watching his son compete at age 12 in a regional tournament in Waco, Texas. Jordan torched the last eight holes with six birdies and an eagle to open up a five- or six-stroke lead.
“Maybe he’s pretty good,” Shawn said.
But to hear Shawn tell it, Jordan didn’t pick up his golf skills from him.
“I’m not a great golfer. I practiced for the last six weeks and I’m maybe twice as good as I was six weeks ago,” he said. “I’ve still got a long way to go.”
Jordan, who has a critical eye for every shot he hits, described his dad’s game with the love and care of someone trying to build his partner’s confidence for the upcoming competition.
“He has a really good short game. Pretty good iron play and the worst part is when he wants to hit a drive really far, which is most every drive,” Jordan said. “When he swings smooth, he drives it really nice.”
“Swing like Nelly,” he added of Nelly Korda, who the Spieths will play alongside in Saturday’s opening round. “That’s going to be your goal on Saturday.”
