Tales from the first tee

Redemption in the Lowcountry: The Mental Game of a Champion

• Rich Easton

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Jordan Spieth claims his second consecutive Easter Sunday victory at the RBC Heritage tournament, demonstrating remarkable resilience after missing the Masters cut two weeks prior. The win at Harbour Town showcases Spieth's ability to overcome mental hurdles and rediscover his winning form when he gets out of his own way.

• Spieth shot a final-round 66 to take the clubhouse lead at 13-under
• Multiple contenders including Straka, Varner III, Lowry, and van Rooyen all failed to match Spieth's score
• Patrick "Patty Ice" Cantlay forced a playoff after missing a birdie putt for outright victory on 18
• Both players found bunkers in the playoff, but Spieth's incredible bunker shot to less than a foot sealed the win
• Last year's Easter Sunday victory at the Valero Texas Open reignited Spieth's career
• The win reinforces Spieth's reputation as one of golf's most mentally intriguing and resilient players


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Speaker 1:

you're listening to a special episode from tales from the first tee look. Anytime jordan spieth wins a tournament, I feel compelled to rant about his accomplishments. Jordan, to me, is the most self-reflecting, humble, self-challenging and certainly in his head golfer I like to follow on tour. Very few professional athletes had the year that he had in 2015, followed by a master's debacle on the 12th hole the following year and then second-guessing themselves for the next five years on tour and then miraculously find their game again and threaten the field. When Jordan makes mistakes on the course, nobody is harder on him than himself. So after missing the cut two weeks ago at the Masters, so after missing the cut two weeks ago at the Masters, he tracks himself down to the low country to reset his golf brain and work on the things that got in his way at the Masters. So, like always, I'm your host, rich Easton, telling tales from beautiful Charleston, south Carolina.

Speaker 1:

So this week it was the RBC at Harbortown in the Lowcountry, just two hours south of beautiful Charleston. The field was filled with top 50 golfers worldwide. So on Sunday afternoon it's no surprise that there was a log jam of competitors tied for the lead, or one or two shots from the lead coming into Sunday afternoon. This wasn't like the Masters the week before where Scotty Scheffler, coming into 18, had a five-stroke lead and he could just saunter his way into the winner's column. No, this was a lot different, you know, it was going to come down to one shot that would separate the great from the good. So on Sunday afternoon Jordan Spieth throws in a 66 to be the leader in the clubhouse 13 under. He was one shot ahead of the field and there were golfers out there for the next 50 minutes that had a chance to match or beat him. So first they started off following Sepp Stra. Now Sepp is short for Joseph. I mean, why not Joe Stracke? Or why not Joey Stracke? That's because Sepp is not from the Northeast. He's not from Boston, new York or Philadelphia, where Joey makes sense. He's from Vienna, austria, where I don't think there are any joeys at all, at least not male joeys.

Speaker 1:

So I'll share a funny Vienna Austria story that I experienced years ago. I had a chance for in one of the companies that I work for, to travel to Vienna Austria to entertain customers, and one of the things in Vienna Austria is the Viennese waltz. So we go to this dance hall one night with all of our customers and it's a dinner dance show and all of these professional dancers from Vienna demonstrate the waltz from their country. Yeah, so unbeknownst to me, professional dancers in Austria doing the Viennese Waltz is a thing and pretty popular, and so while they're doing this demonstration they get to the end and now they are soliciting people amateurs in the audience that are sitting there for dinner to come out and dance with them. So male partners are looking for females, females are looking for males. I decline, I don't know how to waltz.

Speaker 1:

I didn't want to know how to waltz, but my partner at the time, my date, absolutely wanted to do this. She was fascinated by how these men were spinning these women around, you know, like a top. And so she raises her hand. She looks like an eighth grade girl that you know is trying to get the teacher's attention to go to the bathroom and she's waving her hands. And so one of the dancers comes up. This guy, six foot five, reaches his hand down, picks her up and says, vi, dance, or something like that. So now he gets out to the dance floor and they start the music and these guys are spinning all of these amateur girls around. It was like the worst spinning carnival ride you could imagine. But I'm thinking, hey, she's really getting into this dance, she's doing this whole spin thing. This could lead to a very intense night for us, like every guy thinks. But what happens is the dance is done, the men bow, the women curtsy and my date comes back to the table, rushes to the bathroom and ends up vomiting like three meals over the next hour or so. So, needless to say, my night was filled with cold head, compresses, buckets and a lot of sympathy.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so back to the golf. So Seb Straka gets to the 18th tied with Spieth. All he's got to do is par, or better, to either go in a playoff or win. Hits a perfect drive to the fairway and if you've ever played the 18th hole at Harbortown and happened to get off a good drive that doesn't veer off to the right or go in the marsh on the left, you are staring at marsh with a little thin green that you could see, and then you see the light tower. So it's intimidating, particularly when the winds pick up. So now Straka hits his shot and the wind pushes it to the left. It goes off the green. Now it's down on the edge of the hazard, but he could still get his club on the ball. He chips it up, goes past the hole. Now he just has the tying putt, misses it Okay, the hole. Now he just has the tying putt, misses it Okay, he's out of contention.

Speaker 1:

So now the cameras go to Harold Varner III, who overnight became the brand HV3. I don't know when that happened, but now he's HV3. He's like a Star Wars character. He also threatened the lead. I like his attitude. He's been on fire this season and has promise if he doesn't get in his own way. So now he gets to 18. All he needs to do is make a birdie putt, because he lands it on the green, and two to basically tie with Spieth. He has a 40 foot birdie putt and we've seen him make long putts before, but he misses it to the right, just to the right of the cup. Bam, he's out of it. All right. So now the cameras go to Shane. I'll have another point. Lowry, the Irish bulldog and fan favorite. Shane, over the last several holes has been hitting some errant drives, but incredible save approach shots, but keeps burning the edges of the cup on the last several holes, particularly on 18. Another one couldn't close. All right.

Speaker 1:

So now the cameras go to Van Royen, who reminds me of a Monty Python cartoon character with his new handlebar mustache. With his new handlebar mustache, I wonder if there are PR firms focused on changing pro athletes' Q-factor and image. Just a year ago, van Royen looked like most other tour players, particularly those who sported facial hair Guys like Craig Statler, ricky Fowler okay, maybe that's a stretch Gary McCord, tommy Fleetwood, dustin Johnson and now the new Santa, john Daly. Yeah, I'm thinking that the boss on the team in a brainstorming session said something like hey look, van Royan is just blending in with all the other golfers. Let's suggest a handlebar mustache and have him wear chinos instead of golf pants. And then all the other syncophants in the room say, yeah, yeah, what a great idea, boss, we're all here. We should start. All right, thanks for coming, guys.

Speaker 1:

I just wanted to take a few minutes and talk about some ideas for the marketing strategy this year, so if you got one, just throw it out there, I'd love it. Okay, now imagine hundreds of those floating around the web. Actually, do you want to watch it one more time? No, please, tripp, I think you're onto something with this idea. I really like it. Carol, did you get that down? Yeah, I got it. But even PR look Van Royen couldn't finish strong.

Speaker 1:

So that leaves one man Patty Ice, patrick Cantley, to challenge the lead. And you never can count this guy out. Patty Ice gets to 17,. One shot behind it's a par three. The par three is surrounded by bunkers, with water in the front, water on the left-hand side, and he hits an incredible shot, makes the birdie putt. Now he comes to 18. He's tied for the lead.

Speaker 1:

Patty Ice could win the tournament. All he's got to do is birdie the 18th hole. Hits a great drive, hits a dart of an approach shot and he has the dreaded straight putt. Most of us that play on Bermuda grass know that most any putt is going to veer off to the right or the left, slip by the hole or you're going to leave it short. The grain of Bermuda grass kind of tricks you, so you're always thinking the ball is going to move, particularly if you are 12 to 20 feet away. So now Patty Ice, with a straight putt, hits it right at the hole and when I say right at the hole I mean an inch from the right side of the cup passing it and then comes by and makes the par putt Bam Playoff.

Speaker 1:

Spieth and Cantley these guys have been dueling each other for years and they both have positive records when it comes to playoffs, which means they've won more playoffs than they've lost. So now they come to 18 again. Spieth hits kind of a weak 3-wood, leaving him 200 yards away. Patty Ice blasts a 3-wood, leaving him like 178. Now you see Spieth and Michael going back and forth as to what their next move is.

Speaker 1:

He's thinking out everything. Most importantly, he's thinking out the wind and what he needs to do, because he just birdied this hole in regulation, not but an hour and 20 minutes earlier. So now he hits this beautiful baby draw Looks like it's coming in. Boom, hits the sand, the bunker right in the front and puts it maybe three or four inches from the lip of the bunker. He misjudged the wind, understandable. Whenever you have a pin that close to the front, it's a sucker pin placement. You want to hit it past the hole or somewhere to the right or the left of the hole, just getting it over the bunker. Easily said right. And so now Cantley he only has 178 in. He also had. He just missed that birdie putt, maybe 20 minutes earlier. So now he hits a shot, baby draw, the wind comes, puts it right in the trap. Now he's got a fried egg. So it's going to be Spieth's turn first to hit out of the bunker.

Speaker 1:

And we have seen Spieth, time after time, just hit incredible bunker shots to win tournaments. And so now it's his turn. He hits this great bunker shot, puts it not even a foot from the hole, knocks it in for a par. Okay, now it's Cantley's turn. Okay, now it's Cantley's turn. Patty Ice gets a chance to hole out from the bunker, but he's got a fried egg. So he hits a shot, goes past the hole and now it keeps going and going. He's got at least a 40-foot comebacker. Hits his putt, misses. On the left side, spieth wins again.

Speaker 1:

Jordan wins the second year in a row. He wins on Easter Sunday. Last year it was the Texas Valero Open that reignited his engines to get him back in the game again. This year it's Harbortown. Will it be next year Easter Sunday at the Masters town? Will it be next year Easter Sunday at the Masters? Never count this guy out, particularly when he gets out of his own way, gets out of his head and does what he does best Win. You've been listening to a special episode from Tales from the First Tee. I'm your host, rich Easton, telling tales from beautiful Charleston, south Carolina. Talk to you soon.