July 15, 2013
Ceci Ferrara
Sports Writer
Sports Insider
At nineteen years old, Jordan Spieth is the youngest player on the PGA tour. And while that might not always come in handy playing against worldwide stars like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, on Sunday he accomplished something neither of them ever did: win a PGA Tour event as a teenager.
Early in the tournament’s final day, Spieth did not even appear as a bleep on the radar. After bogeying on his first hole, he was seven shots behind leader Daniel Summerhays. But he followed his disastrous first hole with three birdies, and soon found himself in a five-hole playoff against defending champion Zach Johnson and Canadian David Hearn.
His putt on the eighteenth hole, which he called the “luckiest shot I’ve ever hit in my life,” was a twenty-six-inch putt which ended the sudden death playoff against the veteran golfers. “That fact that it bounced right and hit the pin and dropped down to the cup, it’s just extremely fortunate,” Spieth said afterwards.
As winner of the John Deere Classic, Spieth is the youngest winner on the PGA tour in eighty-two years. Ralph Guldahl won the Santa Monica Open in 1931 at the age of nineteen. Not only were Guldahl and Spieth the same age when they won the PGA Tour events—they also both hail from Dallas, TX.
”I didn’t think it would happen this early,” said Spieth of the win. “I had a plan. I guess the plan got exceeded.”
Spieth now has full membership on the PGA Tour and is headed to Scotland to play alongside some of the world’s top golfers at this week’s British Open.
Nationals
For the Nationals, the first half of the season has been far from ideal. Still, they have shown the resolve to bounce back from tough situations, and the optimism to believe their best baseball is still ahead of them. That mentality has them entering the All-Star break at 48-47, one game above .500.
After dropping two straight to the Miami Marlins, including a devastating 8-3 loss for Stephen Strasburg on Friday, the Nationals avoided an embarrassing sweep by coming up big in extra innings Sunday afternoon.
With the game tied 2-2, Jayson Werth hit a tiebreaking one-out single in the top of the tenth for the go-ahead run. But the star of the day was Denard Span, whom manager Davey Johnson moved from his place as leadoff hitter for the first time this season. Batting seventh, Span delivered a two-out double which gave the team a 5-2 lead.
With a three-run lead, they handed the ball to closer Rafael Soriano—a questionable move for some fans after he had blown Saturday night’s game. But Soriano was in top form Sunday afternoon, retiring the side for his twenty-fifth save of the season.
Bryce Harper took Span’s spot at the top of the order, going one for five with a double and a walk. The young outfielder, who will represent his team in the Home Run Derby Monday night, was happy with the move, as it was the first time he had batted first in his major league career.
”I loved it. I really did,” Harper said. ”Getting the at bats I did, five or six ABs, that was pretty awesome. I like doing it. I did it in high school. It was pretty cool. If he left it there, I would be absolutely comfortable.”
With the Nats still trailing the Braves by six games, manager Davey Johnson remains optimistic about his team and what the future holds for them. “We’ve had a few hiccups with injuries and whatever, but I think we’re in good shape going into the second half,” the veteran manager said on Sunday. “We’re an awfully good ball club, and we just need to play like it.”
