Texas might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think about golf, but some big legends have hailed from the Lone Star State: Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Ben Crenshaw…and now a youngster from north Dallas is rising up the ranks.
Jordan Spieth, a 21-year-old who started playing with clubs at the age of 4, is headed to Augusta, Georgia for the Masters this month, and is already turning heads.
Cathy Marino, the head coach of the golf team at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, was impressed with Jordan Spieth from the beginning.
“I’ve been around a lot of good players, played against a lot of good players” Marino says. “But by far and away he’s the best player I’ve coached here at Jesuit.”
The head coach of golf at the University of Texas at Austin, John Fields, has also seen a lot of good players in his 18 years of coaching, but Spieth clearly made an impression.
“He’s got something special,” Coach Fields says. “He’s like a golden billboard out there for Texas Golf.”
In addition to being a star golfer, he’s also started The Jordan Spieth Charitable Fund, in honor of his younger sister Ellie who was born with a neurological disorder. The fund helps other kids with special needs. “He’s got a belief system that is incredible,” Fields says.