IS JORDAN SPIETH BACK? // Plus More From Around the World of Golf

Welcome to a new Wednesday column where I’ll be breaking down what you need to know going into the big weekend of golf ahead.

Whether it’s a player who’s making a potential resurgence (you might know who that is this week) or simply an equipment change for one of the best players on TOUR, we’ll have you covered. Let’s get into this week’s topics ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Is Jordan Spieth Back?

Man oh man, Jordan Spieth really gave us golf fans something to get excited about this weekend at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It was a classic Jordan Spieth weekend, hitting just 41% of fairways throughout the tournament, but he still propelled himself to a 54 hole co-lead with Xander Schauffele thanks to his lowest score on the PGA TOUR EVER with a 10 under 61.

My guy was draining putts and pointing at Michael Greller to go get it like he took a time machine back to 2017 at Royal Birkdale (which happens to be the last time he won).

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Now, this question gets raised a lot historically in sports. Is, in this case Jordan Spieth, back? You hear the same question about his alma mater’s football team, the Texas Longhorns, which makes me wonder if there’s some sort of correlation there.

At the end of the day, Jordan Spieth shot a disappointing 2 over on Sunday to finish T-4 a week after being cut at Torrey Pines. Those are the facts. But Tiger’s comeback that was topped off by a win at Augusta in 2019 wasn’t built in one tournament. He had to contend at the Valspar, he had to contend at the PGA Championship at Bellevue, and he had to win the TOUR Championship at East Lake first.

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Jordan Spieth has the opportunity to take this T-4 finish last weekend, and build on it at a course where he’s not only consistently played well at, even through the bad years, but a course that he won at in 2017. If you’re riding the bandwagon from last weekend, get excited because Spieth should put up another exciting weekend at Pebble Beach.

Kamaiu “My My” Johnson Finally Gets His Chance

We talked about this story on the Pin High Podcast a few weeks ago when Kamaiu Johnson was set to make his PGA TOUR debut on a sponsor’s exemption, but he was unfortunately unable to play during a positive COVID test. Here’s what you need to know about his incredible journey that has led to a start at this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

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Johnson had dropped out of school in 8th grade, and was living in an apartment with his mom that happened to be next to a public golf course. He was swinging a stick, not a golf club, just off the golf course when the General Manager came over and said there would be a bucket of balls and a 9 iron on the range for him.

She charged him $1 a day to play at the course, and that is how Kamaiu Johnson started playing this game we all know and love. And now, however many years down the road, he’s getting a start on the PGA TOUR. By the way, this is no charity sponsor’s exemption, the guy has dominated the APGA Mini Tour, and even won the Tour Championship this year. Pretty good for a guy that wasn’t professionally fitted for clubs until a few months ago.

Simply an awesome story, and this weekend’s tournament at Pebble Beach isn’t the only event he’ll be playing in. He’ll also tee it up at Riviera for the Genesis Invitational and PGA National for the Honda Classic. Be sure to root for this guy in the weeks ahead.

AT&T Pebble Beach “NO”-Am?

We usually get some fantastic storylines from the weekend at this tournament. You’ve got Bill Murray trying out some new material on the fans and then sticking it to 2 feet, and Tony Romo hitting shots to mere inches from off the top of the hospitality tent. But this year we won’t have any of those stories to tell because there will be no Amateurs in the field. But I wouldn’t be too down about this because the upside is that you get to watch an amateur-less tournament at one of, if not the best U.S. Open venue that the country has to offer at Pebble Beach. And Spyglass isn’t too shabby either (it’s on most golfer’s bucket lists I’d imagine).

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So we should be set to enjoy another exciting weekend out in California, and we’ll have to see how our buddies Jordan and Kamaiu pan out. The only person I can think of that could be affected by no amateurs being in the field is Phil Mickelson because I feel like he just feeds off of playing with some of those guys. Nonetheless, this week’s Trend Train has arrived at its final stop: Pebble Beach, California. 

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