There are worse places to spend the fledgling days of January than Hawaii. “I’m going snorkelling, whale watching, fishing,” said Jordan Spieth. It sounds just like a relaxing afternoon up at the Maryhill Locks.
For Spieth, the trip to the idyllic volcanic archipelago – and that’s Hawaii we’re on about again, not Maryhill – is an ideal winter warmer ahead of the tumult that will follow once the golfing campaign gets into full cry. “Once you get off the islands, it's back to reality,” added the world No 5 as he savoured the calming tranquility of the pacific retreat. It won’t be all kick-back and relax this week, of course. Pleasure combines with business as Spieth defends his title at the SBS Tournament of Champions, a limited-field event of 2016 PGA Tour winners which also includes Scotsman, Russell Knox.
A year ago, Spieth romped to an eight-shot win in this same event with a record-equalling 30-under tally. After a swashbuckling 2015 in which he flirted with the possibility of the grand slam, drooling observers viewed his Hawaiian romp as a sign that he was set to have another shimmering season of dominance in 2016. It didn’t quite work out that way for Spieth. His excruciating Masters collapse in April remains seared on the memory and others stole much of the limelight that he had hogged the previous year. It may have been a topsy-turvy campaign but his win at November’s Australian Open – his third of the season and his first since May – provided a timely tonic ahead of 2017. Trying to temper the great expectations that are thrust upon in this demanding world can be tricky but Spieth is a level-headed young man. “I certainly don't come in expecting to match or improve on what happened at last year's Tournament of Champions,” the 23-year-old added. “Obviously I want the same result but I recognize that you can't force being in the zone. It just has to come. I remember sitting in the press room after the (Hawaii) tournament last year and saying I need to stay very patient because this isn't going to happen every week. I need to not get ahead of myself. I said the right things last year. There were certainly times when it was hard to stay true to that. I think the patience will be something that I will improve on and will continue to improve on throughout my career. But it's something that I needed to learn a bit last year.”
With the four majors currently in the clutches of players who had never previously triumphed in one before, Spieth is well aware that the global going is only going to get tougher in 2017.
“You saw a few guys that had had a couple of close calls (in majors) and they got through the threshold, they thought ‘I’m tired of the close calls, I’m going to burst through the barrier,” said Spieth. “You see a lot of first-time winners on the PGA TOUR now. There’s now a lot of young talent and fearless talent.”
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