What is the finest performance you have ever seen from a young sportsperson?
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Version 0 of 1. When Nick Faldo won the Masters back in 1996, he called Augusta National the “most nerve-wracking course in the world”. When Jordan Spieth strode around its glorious greenery this weekend, he looked like a man out for a leisurely afternoon stroll with his dog. Spieth later admitted that he had struggled to sleep on Saturday night but on Sunday afternoon he ambled around the course with an air of relaxed supremacy rarely seen in a competitor so young. The 21-year-old’s self-assurance and steady perfection turned the most exciting weekend in the sport’s calendar into something approaching an anticlimax. Ben Crenshaw, the two-time Masters champion who has mentored Spieth, says that holding the young man’s gaze is “like looking at Wyatt Earp”. That inscrutability was on show on Sunday evening as he made his way from tee to fairway to green and all the way to the green jacket. As Spieth answered every question the golf course asked of him, viewers looking for some drama had to turn to the battle for second place that was developing between Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy, a trio of grand masters who share 10 majors between them. It was an historic few days for the Masters. Spieth became the second youngest champion in the competition’s history; he tied Tiger Woods’ championship record of -18; he became the first golfer to reach -19 at Augusta; he became the first player to have led after all four rounds since Raymond Floyd won his only green jacket in 1976; he hit a record 28 birdies over the four days; and he set new record scores after rounds two and three. All while playing his second tournament at Augusta National. When asked how he felt about winning his first major, Spieth was typically relaxed: “To shoot some low rounds, make some putts and hear those roars was remarkable,” he said with almost comic understatement. That he prepared on Saturday night by watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a film he calls “one of the greatest movies in the world”, and that he celebrated on Sunday with a meal at Chick-fil-A (the fast food chain normally close on Sundays but they made an exception for their most famous fan) gives some indication of the young man’s vintage. He was only a toddler when Woods demolished the field at Augusta in 1997. That seminal performance is the natural comparison for Spieth’s accomplishment this weekend, but which other athletes have exhibited such startling ability and maturity at such a young age? |