Monday Morning Caddy - September 28, 2015

September 28, 2015 Sara Rubin Comments

Spieth breaks some massive records with his 2015 PGA Tour Championship victory.  Plus find out why team golf is the best golf.

Spieth Victorious!

At the ripe old age of 22, Jordan Spieth became the youngest-ever Tour Championship winner.  Closing out the FedEx Cup in the same dominant fashion that he kicked off the 2015 season, Spieth has also set the record for the most earnings in a single-season by any golfer at over $22 million.  The fact that he isn’t even 23 yet and has a pair of majors and a Tour Championship under his belt are awe-inspiring for even the most seasoned pros.

While the victories and earnings are in and of themselves, pretty amazing feats, it’s just as much the way that Spieth competes that impresses.  Focused, driven and prepared are 3 words that could easily describe many golfers on the PGA Tour, but applied to a 22 year old with decades of promising career ahead of him, it’s inspiring to think of the possibilities.  We know that we’ll be watching closely to see what the PGA’s brightest rising star does next.

The Team Golf Effect

Last week, we wrapped up Austad’s own version of the Ryder Cup which is held annually and affectionately known as “The Boondoggle”.  Like the Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup, it’s a two-team event, although the stakes are not nearly as high and it’s a whole lot more casual.  However, it is competitive and a lot of crap is both given and taken and being on the winning team is a matter of pride that you can hold over a lot of heads throughout the year.

What I found interesting is that for a sport that is incredibly focused on the individual, it’s a pretty awesome team sport.  Unless you played for a high school or college team, most golfers will have had very few opportunities to play golf as a team (outside of the random scramble outing.)  I would contend that the sport would be much more enjoyable if we played more team best ball or match play.  Every single one of my matches came down to the last hole and the sense of pride I felt when I dropped a 3 footer for par (net eagle) on the last hole to halve the match was amplified by about 100 since I was contributing to my team score.

While the golf continues to wrestle with itself about how to grow the game, I’m going to suggest that the next time you go out and play with your buddies, try teaming up.  It’ll make your match a whole lot more interesting.

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