To Tom Watson, the USA captain, Jordan Spieth is an “A1 player”. To those hoping the Americans will upset the odds and win back the Ryder Cup he could emerge as a key weapon in their arsenal.
But despite the impeccable attention to detail on show elsewhere as Gleneagles put the finishing touches to a plan long in gestation, it did not stop organisers spelling the American wunderkind Jordan Spieth’s name wrong on the driving range practice boards. Later he joked it might have been the Europeans trying to get “under his skin”.
Not that Spieth, the youngest American Ryder Cup player for 85 years, is likely to be fazed. He has been tipped as golf’s next big thing for so long and plays with such confidence it is easy to forget he is 21. Coming off his practice round, he talked about how at ease he was among the biggest names in the game and said he felt very comfortable.
Spieth was paired with Steve Stricker in the Presidents Cup and looks likely to partner Matt Kuchar on Friday.
“I don’t think there’s any butterflies about being around some of the legends of the game. I know the guys are already ready to get going and it’s [only] Tuesday,” said Spieth, who was two months old when Watson captained USA to the last American win on foreign soil, at The Belfry in 1993.
Gleneagles will hold few surprises for Spieth, who played the PGA Centenary course in 2010 when he was a 17-year-old member of the USA Junior Ryder Cup team. He has recalled being given an early taste of Scotland’s unpredictable September weather and teeing off in the snow but waxed lyrical about the “crazy, cool” experience of coming back.
Spieth noted one key difference in the setup of the team room compared with the last time he was here. “The real difference is the way it’s decorated and the bar – I mean, which no one’s partaking in anyway. But hopefully on Sunday it empties quickly.”
He went close to winning the Masters before being overhauled by his Ryder Cup team-mate Bubba Watson, while in the other majors the Texan finished 17th at the US Open, 36th at the Open and missed the cut in the PGA Championship. But he still did more than enough to qualify for Watson’s team with four months to spare, justifying the bold predictions made by many in the game in the wake of that Masters performance.
“Jordan has a great attitude about this game,” said Watson. “He has a very strong, mature attitude about how he plays the game, and I couldn’t be happier to have him on the team. He’s an A1 player.”
Spieth’s exuberance, which has sometimes got the better of him on the course, could also be an asset in matchplay when passions run high.
When Spieth left the 18th with Watson after completing his practice round, they found themselves mobbed by schoolchildren wielding autograph books. Spieth, who with his baseball cap and youthful features could have been mistaken for a pop star rather than a golfer, patiently signed his name and smiled.
“I still don’t know what to expect on that first tee,” he said. “That’s a pretty incredible setting they have here but it’s a shot I’m looking forward to hitting.”
Such is his assurance that Kuchar had to be reminded this would be Spieth’s first Ryder Cup. “He seems to be very aware of what’s going on and how to handle things. I mean, he’s quite mature,” he said. “At 21 he seems nearly a veteran.”
