Jordan Spieth won the John Deere Classic in a two-hole playoff to set up an intriguing week ahead of The Open at St. Andrews.
Spieth earned his first career PGA TOUR victory at this tournament as a 19-year-old in 2013. That year, Spieth needed three playoff holes to get the job done. He is clearly improving.
The win puts Spieth in great company once again and could lead to an unorthodox path to a title at The Open.
Good sign for The Open?
While the sponsor no doubt loves Spieth’s loyalty to the event, recent history says his best strategy for winning the year’s third major would have been to eschew the John Deere Classic for either the Scottish Open or a week of rest.
Consider this.
Each of the past five Open Champions played the Scottish Open the week before his win. In fact, it's been more than a decade since the winner at The Open played in the John Deere Classic the week before, a stretch that goes back to Todd Hamilton in 2004.
Since 1990, Hamilton and Ian Baker-Finch in 1991 are the only men to play a PGA TOUR event the week before winning the Claret Jug.
Since the modern era of majors began in 1934, Lee Trevino in 1971 was the only player to win a PGA TOUR event the week before winning The Open.
In 2013, after the 19-year-old Spieth won the John Deere, he then played Muirfield and shot an opening round 69 at The Open before fading with a 74-76-75.
Texas-sized hot streak
With his fourth PGA TOUR win this season, which leads all players, Spieth can become the 12th player to win a PGA TOUR event prior to winning a major. Rory McIlroy did so prior to last year's PGA Championship.
Perhaps more impressively, Spieth joins Tiger Woods as the only players in the past 75 years to win at least five PGA TOUR events before turning 22 years old. Woods won six times prior to his 22nd birthday.
Where was the competition?
Although there's no denying Spieth's hot streak heading into next week's major, this win might not stack up compared to the rest. Spieth was the only top-25 player in the world who played in the event.
Meanwhile, 18 of the world's top 25 elected to take the week off, while the other six played the Scottish Open.
