It Will Only Get Harder for Jordan Spieth

I am embracing the appearance of Jordan Spieth.  He is a great kid who is seemingly destined to become one of golf's great players.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he wins again this week at Whistling Sraits and really creates a buzz.  It was too bad he missed out on the playoff for the Open, but in golf you just can't win them all.  It's not that sort of game.

Jordan's next Major, and every Major thereafter will be more difficult.  Not because the competition is harder, or his game has changed, but because he now plays with the weight of expectation--his own, and others.  Having very quickly secured two Majors, all eyes, and added pressure, are on him.  

Bobby Jones talked about this phenomenon.  It was one of the reasons why he wrote that golf is the one game that gets harder the longer you play it.  Not only did he discover more ways to miss a shot, but after describing his sortie into championship golf as a kid as being a "lark," where nothing was expected from him and he played with nothing to lose and everything to gain, he spoke of the weight of expectation that was upon him after he started to win.

The great champions embrace this added pressure, and respond by playing even better.  Let's hope that's the case with Jordan.  He's a very special player.