Lol what? I gave a very legitimate response that was absolutely correct and this is your response? It ad I think I have been backing Spieth probably longer than anyone here as I had friends that played alot of AJGA with him when they were younger.

Most of your response was reasonable, until you cited the fifth playoff hole and went all-caps for the word par.

I guess "not closing out well at all" means closing out better than 2 guys, one of whom has 11 career wins?

Or what about Jordan's outstanding approach shot against Reed when Reed was in the rough over by the trees, only to have Reed get inside him then make the putt whereas Jordan missed his putt? Guess if Spieth knew how to close or was a better closer he would have holed out his approach. As it stands... YOUNG CHOKER.

Cool story. You really would do yourself a favor to go back through the history books and realize Jack, Arnie, and all the other LEGENDS didn't close every tourney birdie-eagle-birdie, bro.

"Learning how to win" or "learning how to close" is a definite thing in golf and other sports. It's not something magical but, as BYN describes, it pertains to handling nervous trying times calmly and within oneself. Jack Nicklaus has talked about it, Tom Watson, David Duval, Tiger Woods, and many others too.

My personal experience is in bowling. The first time I was going for a 300 game I got very nervous (unexpectedly to me) and did not handle it as well as I should have. Every time after that I handled the situation better and had a great deal of success.

This is not a knock on Spieth who is a great great golfer. He will just have to be in these situations a few more times before he becomes more "natural" in them.

Hilarious you bring up the playoff between Reed and Spieth. Guess you missed where Spieth played the first playoff hole horribly and ended up luckboxing a bomb for par while Reed missed like a 12 footer for par. That playoff probably ended with the correct outcome for how they played the playoff.

Winning with par in a 3 man playoff isnt closing anything period. It is an absolute gift. That is a fact in golf and anyone who has played competitively would never expect to win a 3 man playoff with a par.

The fact of the matter is that Spieth is now 0 for 3 when co leading going into the final round this year. His attitude after the fact is great but he definitely needs more experience in knowing what it feels like down the stretch and learning to close. I like the kid alot and I think once it happens, he is going to rack up wins like no tomorrow.

Love how you bring up closing as going birdie eagle birdie because you know you are wrong. No one is asking that but Spieth was -14 thru 4 holes on Sunday and -13 was the winning score. That should tell you something...

Speith just gets too amped up for these big final rounds and it shows. His swing on Sunday at Augusta was dreadful, pieces flying all over the place. Testament to his grittiness that he found a way to shoot even when he should have shot close to 80.

It will just be a process where he learns to control that adrenaline that serves him well early in the week, easier said than done though. But I think he'll eventually figure it out. Until that happens though, I'll certainly be betting against him in final rounds in big events. Doesn't mean I won't be rooting for him however.

BO

Mostly I'm attacking the phrase "learn how to close". If you mean he'll get better closing with more experience/less being nervous that's fair to say but "learn to close" is overused and doesn't really mean anything outside that. It's not like to close you need to suddenly hit a shot shape you've never hit before. It's still just golf. Yes, the nerves will go away probably with more playing.

This is really stupid. Par seems good enough to win a playoff on the PGA TOUR but it's not good enough for whatever crappy "competitive golf" you have played? LOLLLLL OK bro. You're right - dis these losers for not being able to win with birdie. Even though a par for them is like a birdie for you and your amateur handicap, probably. Zach Johnson has ELEVEN tour wins. He's better than you. If he can't make birdie in the playoffs it doesn't mean he sucks it means it's not easy to make birdies in playoffs, probably. Zach Johnson probably has more Tour wins than you have eagles in your entire "playing career".

Mostly I'm attacking you because I'm pretty sure you called today's golfers pussies and said they aren't good at closing. So this isn't an isolated event (your post).

What should him being -14 through 58 holes and the winning score being -13 tell me? That it's hard to go 72 HOLES AT THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP bogey-free? WOW. Thanks for the wisdom man.

Let me guess, Kaymer CLOSED out, baby? You love the way he CLOSED that tourney? While Spieth just straight up choked I'm guessing? lol. Kaymer stumbled to the finish but it doesn't matter because he played well enough prior to that for it to not matter. But you probably refuse to recognize him as the winner for 2 reasons:

1) He didn't CLOSE in a manner you'd like.
2) Tiger isn't here so this entire tourney is void anyway.

OMG - ARC back to his old self after returning from self-imposed retirement.

On a serious note tho... Rating sucked with no eldrick - even with spief tied for the 54 hole lead

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/sta...27587106422784

I enjoyed it thoroughly. Just saying the kid isn't drawing the way it seems he would.

Those aren't real golf fans. Anyone who can't watch the final round of the 5th biggest tournament of the year because Tiger or Phil isn't there is simply not a fan of watching golf.

They're probably a weekend warrior who thinks stupid thoughts like "I only watch the best of the best."

Basically those people are lame as hell. They are probably "HUGE" sports fans who root for LeBron, Tom Brady, Tiger, Jeter, Federer (though Nadal more now and they're really liking that Djokivic kid), etc...

I also noticed our little thread being super inactive until the final few holes on Sunday.......

Tour has to figure out how to promote other players since it doesn't appear there are going to be any super dominant players in the near future for a casual fan to latch onto or get excited about. Going to need some personalities, of course a bit of color never hurts. Probably be nice if some young Asian blew up as well, I guess

It's hard for the stars to stand out because it's harder and harder to win tournaments.

There are stars, they just don't appear as huge outliers like Arnie, Lee, Jack, etc.

Honestly golf might have to start incorporating more team events for stars to arise. Winning tournaments doesn't do it anymore because it's really hard to win a lot of tournaments.

Look at Ian Poulter, though. Guy is super talented but basically never wins (because it's hard). Yet at the Ryder Cup he shined like a star. Euros loved him - Americans hated him but admired his passion and WIM.

Jason Dufner almost wins the PGA outta nowhere. Wins a couple regular events. Gets a commercial but nothing until the whole Dufnering thing catches fire on twitter makes him a known star.

Rickie Fowler has 1 win. He's more a "star" because of his clothing and just the fact that he's constantly marketed as the next star.

Spieth is a superstar already and he has 1 win. People are stars simply for making runs at majors anymore.

Maybe more team events will help to create or showcase the stars of the game? Who outside of hardcore golf watchers even knew that Kuchar had like 4 straight weeks in which he legitimately could have won each tournament?

Over the last few years Sergio is infamous now because of his fried chicken comment and subsequent Players meltdown. Not for going on a run of 8 wins over 3 years.

LOL not one thing correct in this post, no surprise there. Also never said todays players are pussies. I was on the other site of that argument making everything you said even more LOL. Take a poll ARC. Ask any of the golfers here who have played competitive golf that if they won with par in a 3 hole playoff if it felt like they really won that playoff or if they felt it was a gift the others faltered and both made bogey

Actually, what matters is whether or not Jordan thinks he has trouble closing out tournaments.

Don't disagree with the general idea of your post, that he needs to learn how to deal with nerves better, but this specific snippet is a massive pet peeve of mine.

There is a zero percent chance you, or anyone, can identify a Sunday swing from one earlier in the week, outside of like the clothes he was wearing.

Announcers do this same **** all the time when someone misses a fairway or green. "Well Bill, he tweaked his noggle an extra bit on that one", when in reality you can't see a single bit of difference between that swing and one they pipe. It's fractions of degrees ffs.

You can't notice the positions, but you certainly can notice the timing and speed from the top. But on Master's Sunday you didn't even have to notice that as he had either 5 or 6 swings where he finished one-handed. Pretty good indication of bad timing when that happens.

You're mostly right about the swing, you could also notice things like spending different amounts of time over the ball or extra waggles or similar.

BO

like when they break it down on super slow mo and faldo says "see the toe turn over oh so slightly on that swing."lol

That's part of the reason I can't stand Faldo.

"Ewwww lookie there mate he overcooked that draw by 5 yards clearly the pressure's getting to him and he's squeezing that club a leeetle hardah mate and gritting his teeth a leetle hardah lad."

I cannot stand that type of commentary.

You've never in your life played golf at a level of competition in which Spieth or Zach Johnson does every single week so shut the hell up and stop playing the "I played competitive golf so I know what I'm saying" card.

You're seriously saying that finishing 72 holes of a regular tourstop tied with the lead with 2 players (one of whom has double-digit career wins and a ****ing major - and plays that course better than anyone outside Steve Stricker, who was also in the field), then going on to OUTPERFORM them both in a multi-hole playoff is being GIFTED a win. JFC shut the hell up.

Par is an arbitrary thing when you get down to it. Who the **** cares if you make par to win a playoff? Like bogeys don't happen?

You are unbelievably short-sighted about the PGA Tour.

Yes I am. Spieth also didnt play the best in that playoff. Just because he won does not mean he played the best. He played the best on 1 hole. Playing the best and scoring the best are 2 totally different things or do you want to make up some argument saying that is false too? Did you even watch the playoff?

Question for BO and Ship. If you won in a 3 man playoff with par, would you think you closed it out or probably think that it was a bit of a gift 2 of the top players in the world made bogey on the same hole?

Not sure if this is even possible to look up but look him 3 man playoffs for the history of the tour and see how many times par won it. Wont be many

Just another stat, pros make like 90-95% of their putts from the range O hearn had to win and he missed it. To say that Spieth closed that one out is laughable

I like Spieth but his tee-to-green game needs a lot of improvement if he is going to be #1 in the world.

I don't think Spieth choked in the final rounds at Augusta or TPC - I think his shaky tee-to-green game just caught up with him. He even admitted that he got lucky during Rd. 3 of The Players to not get any bogeys.

So, BYN, nobody deserved to win the John Deere last year?

Nobody played well enough for you? Mr. I Play Competitive Golf Dude I Know What I'm Talking About Here?

Spieth is so bad on Sunday he doesn't even win the tournaments he wins!

Weir won the Masters with a bogey

You completely miss every point. Did Spieth play well all week? Yes he did. Did he get very lucky with how things played out on 18 and then the 5 hole playoff? You bet he did. Did he win? Yep. How is any of this even arguable?

I don't know how it's arguable. But there you are saying his win was a gift. So here we are...