Spieth earned $1.485 million for the win, as well as the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.
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Michael Greller was a sixth-grade teacher at Narrows View Intermediate School in University Place, Wash., reportedly earning $77,000 a year, when Jordan Spieth hired him to caddie in 2013. The fact he was still in with a chance of completing the third leg of the “impregnable quadrilateral” right up until the very last hole of the Open Championship spoke volumes for his talents, his mental resolve and his self-assuredness. His last seven tournaments have all been played at par or better, including a 20-under-par win at the PGA Championship and a 19-under-par victory at the Barclays. Spieth’s closest contender is Australian Jason Day, who also won five tournaments this year, including one major, the PGA Championship.
“It’s been a phenomenal year for him, ” said Stenson, who finished second in the FedEx Cup standings after his tie for second in the tournament.
The most telling thing to me is how Tiger-like Spieth was on Sunday at the Tour Championship on Sunday.
“I think [the game] is in as great a state as it’s been in a while, ” Spieth said.
Spieth’s remarkable run began in mid-March, only a little more than six months ago, when he won the Valspar Championship following a three-way play-off with Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair.
“The fact that there’s been such a high level from numerous guys, it’s cool”, said Spieth.
Rory got unlucky with his injury this season and never got into a good rhythm once he returned. Spieth’s five and the FedEx Cup trump that. The only one to escape that trio’s grasp during that span was the British Open at St. Andrews, where Spieth and Day both finished one shot out of a three-man playoff won by Zach Johnson.
Like Woods, Spieth catapulted to global stardom with two major titles before the age of 25.
Spieth’s victory at East Lake on Sunday capped a series more meaningful than a grubby dash for a $10 million bonus.
“The reason I played so many events was I really wanted to make it into the Presidents Cup this year”, Lee told the Korea Times in August.
Coinciding with the program’s rise once again to No. 1 in the country, Florida State Men’s Golf appears to be at the top of its game on the PGA Tour as well. “I got mad”, said Spieth, who responded by preparing for the Tour Championship as if it was a major. “So I don’t need (today) to justify it. I’m not going to sit here and say $10 million doesn’t mean anything to me, because it does”. He soundly beat both Padraig Harrington (2008) and Rory McIlroy (2014) – the other golfers to win two major championships in a season since 2007.
Spieth had all of that in abundance, and if he ended up coasting home in fairly undramatic fashion, he could hardly be blamed for that.
As Rose illustrated with his Olympic scenario, the potential for embarrassment next year is obvious. Spieth, wearing tennis shoes, was on the other side of the green, and he was all business.
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Day will head the worldwide team in the Presidents Cup battle with the US in South Korea in a fortnight’s time before he shuts down for the birth of his second child and another rigorous strength and conditioning phase.
