Jordan Spieth Turns in Perfect 5-0 Week to Join Exclusive Cup Club

The popular American went 5-0 to help lift the U.S. to another Presidents Cup victory, and ended his career-long drought in Cup singles.
Jordan Spieth Turns in Perfect 5-0 Week to Join Exclusive Cup Club
Jordan Spieth Turns in Perfect 5-0 Week to Join Exclusive Cup Club /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Winning every match in a Cup event is a difficult task, with a tremendous amount of skill and usually some luck involved.

It doesn’t always mean you played your best, you just played well enough to get a W.

Jordan Spieth was one of the lucky ones this week at the Presidents Cup, going 5-0 and setting the tone early on Sunday by posting the first singles point on the board for the USA in a 4 and 3 win over Australian Cam Davis.

A 5-0 week is the holy grail of cup competition, as many players are not selected for all five matches, much less winning all matches they play in.

Only 10 players in either a Ryder or Presidents Cup have turned the 5-0 trick, with Spieth joining Gardner Dickinson, Arnold Palmer, Larry Nelson, Francesco Molinari, Mark O’Meara, Shigeki Maruyama, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Branden Grace and Dustin Johnson.

Ironically, Spieth had been a combined 0-6-1 in singles competition in Ryder and Presidents Cups before Sunday’s match with Davis, the 27-year-old International rookie.

“It feels really good,” Spieth said afterward. “I was more nervous than I probably should have been today just because I wanted to get that monkey off my back. I tied Tommy (Fleetwood) last year, but I hadn't gotten a win yet.”

Player

Year

5-0 Cup Competition

Gardner Dickinson

1967

Ryder Cup

Arnold Palmer

1967

Ryder Cup

Larry Nelson

1979

Ryder Cup

Mark O'Meara

1996

Presidents Cup

Shigeki Maruyama

1998

Presidents Cup

Tiger Woods

2009

Presidents Cup

Jim Furyk

2011

Presidents Cup

Branden Grace

2015

Presidents Cup

Francesco Molinari

2018

Ryder Cup

Dustin Johnson

2021

Ryder Cup

Jordan Spieth

2022

Presidents Cup

Before getting to the singles, Spieth partnered with his good friend Justin Thomas.

The duo played in four matches together and none were in doubt, with the two friends leading in 50 of the 64 holes they played and trailing in only three.

“I putted 10 times today,” Thomas said, giving one of the ultimate compliments after playing two sessions on Saturday. “I played two matches, and I hit 10 putts. I think that's pretty absurd. I legitimately think I picked my coin up more than I hit putts. So yeah, my partner's pretty good.”

Spieth had showed a lot of the Spieth of old over the first three days, with long putts converted and chip-ins from off the green.

But Spieth knew of his dismal singles record, and after starting with two bogeys in the first two holes in his singles match against Davis and going 2 down, Spieth was digging himself a hole that made a win or tie much more difficult.

Spieth made up the deficit quickly, making a 24-foot putt on the par-3 4th hole and another birdie from 19 feet off the fringe on the par-4 5th hole to tie the match.

After losing the 8th hole, Spieth made a Spieth-type run of three consecutive birdies from the 11th through 13th to set the stage for his first singles win.

“I had a great back nine,” Spieth said. “I hit a really good shot into 11, driving the hole. Hit it in the middle of the green there after winning the 9th and having a nice tie on the 10th. That's where the game shifted was birdieing there. I rallied off three straight birdies on this nine and kept trying to hit greens.”

Spieth ended his birdie run with a 46-foot birdie putt on the 13th and the win was etched in stone.

“It feels really good,” Spieth said after the win. “When you go out early as I've done pretty much every team event on a Sunday, they're looking for red on the board, and it feels good to finally provide that.”


Published
Alex Miceli
ALEX MICELI

Alex Miceli, a journalist and radio/TV personality who has been involved in golf for 26 years, was the founder of Morning Read and eventually sold it to Buffalo Groupe. He continues to contribute writing, podcasts and videos to SI.com. In 1993, Miceli founded Golf.com, which he sold in 1999 to Quokka Sports. One year later, he founded Golf Press Association, an independent golf news service that provides golf content to news agencies, newspapers, magazines and websites. He served as the GPA’s publisher and chief executive officer. Since launching GPA, Miceli has written for numerous newspapers, magazines and websites. He started GolfWire in 2000, selling it nine years later to Turnstile Publishing Co.