You would be forgiven for forgetting that Jordan Spieth’s incredible run on the PGA Tour in 2015 began with his victory at the Valspar Championship.
Spieth produced one of the most incredible seasons since Tiger Woods was at the peak of his powers.
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He became the youngest ever player to win The Masters and the US Open in the same season, surpassing Woods’ record from 2002.
The then-21-year-old did not finish outside the top four in any of the majors. He also won the John Deere Classic and the Tour Championship.
How Jordan Spieth reacted to the first of his five PGA Tour wins of the 2015 season
Of course, it was a remarkable run. But it was all the more incredible because Spieth had only previously won once on the PGA Tour before 2015.
His triumph at the Valspar Championship came after Spieth beat Sean O’Hair and Patrick Reed in a playoff. Spieth made a birdie on the third additional hole.
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Spieth was asked about becoming the fourth youngest player to win on the PGA Tour, after Tiger Woods, Sergio García, Robert Gamez. He insisted that he had even loftier goals.
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“I like studying the game, historian of the game. It’s really cool to have my name go alongside those. But right now currently and what I’m really focused on is Rory McIlroy is number one in the world. That’s who everyone is trying to chase,” he said.
“That’s our ultimate goal is to eventually, you know, be the best in the world and this is a great, great stepping stone. I don’t know, maybe move to seven or six or something, but going into the four Majors of the year to have closed one out in this kind of fashion is going to give me a lot of confidence.”
When Jordan Spieth did manage to reach world number one for the first time
Spieth may have always looked destined to reach the summit of the game, but perhaps few would have expected him to get there so quickly.
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McIlroy would go on to remain world number one until mid-August. But Spieth was able to overtake him after finishing second to Jason Day at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Spieth has now had four spells at number one, spending 26 weeks in total in that position.
Unfortunately, he has not been world number one since late March 2016, little more than a year after the victory at the Valspar that did indeed prove to be an amazing stepping stone.
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