Thursday 9 January 2014
Jordan Spieth's success inspires PGA Tour rookie John Peterson at Sony Open
John Peterson was in the 11th grade and
thought no one his age could beat him.
That changed when he was at a junior
event in Texas, where he heard so much
chatter about an eighth-grader from
Dallas that he went out to watch him.
That was his introduction to Jordan
Spieth, now one of his good friends.
"I heard he was good," Peterson said at
the Sony Open, his first tournament of
the year. "I wanted to see what everyone
was talking about. I'm a junior in high
school, thinking no one could beat me,
and here's this eighth-grader killing
everybody, already as tall as me. We
battled in junior golf. I got him in a
playoff at the Jones Cup, and he's been
beating me ever since."
Spieth inspires him in a different way on
the PGA Tour -- just like Spieth was
inspired by Sony Open defending
champion Russell Henley.
Every year brings a new crop of rookies.
Each year, the intimidation factor of
playing alongside the best in the game
deteriorates. To look at the latest group
of newcomers gathered at Waialae for the
first full-field PGA Tour of 2014 begs one
question.
Who's next?
"It really helps when you see your peers
compete -- and win," Spieth said
Wednesday. "I watched Russell Henley
last year. I was on the Walker Cup team
with him, and he wins the first event of
the year. When you see that, it gives you
a mental edge. You're starting to see
young guys on the leaderboard all the
time, and these are guys who competed
against for years."
Spieth was among four rookies who won
on the PGA Tour last year, joining Henley,
Derek Ernst and Patrick Reed. It was one
of the strongest rookie classes in years.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it happened
again," Spieth said.
Peterson is a 24-year-old NCAA champion
from LSU who has never been afraid to
say what he thinks. He was still an
amateur when he lost to fellow amateur
Harris English -- now a two-time winner
on the PGA Tour -- on the final hole of a
Nationwide Tour event. He told Golf
World magazine that day, "I knew I could
beat all those guys," and that the top 20
or 30 college players could hang with the
top 20 or 30 on the PGA Tour with a few
exceptions.
It's that fine line of confident and cocky,
which Peterson is known to cross on
occasion, that adds to the increasing
depth and makes it harder on everyone to
win.
"Jordan, Peter Uihlein, Harris English,
Russell Henley ... all those guys we've
played with the last six years, they're all
doing big things," Peterson said. "Peter is
playing himself into the World Golf
Championships. He's killing it. Guys are
really starting to believe they can play
with guys who have been here for 15
years. Twenty years ago, guys coming off
the Nationwide or whatever the Web.com
was called, they probably didn't believe
they could beat these guys straight out.
"Now you're seeing it happen every
year."
Peterson was with Spieth in Colombia
early last year when Spieth was at a
crossroads. With no status anywhere,
Spieth was about $4,000 short of full
status on the Web.com Tour. He honored
a commitment to play a PGA Tour event
in Puerto Rico instead of going to Chile to
wrap up his card.
"I was like, 'Dude, you've got to Chile,'"
Peterson said. "He went to Puerto Rico
and proved everyone wrong again. He
could have been out there with us all
year. Instead, he went to Puerto Rico ...
and wound up in the Presidents Cup."
Peterson laughed at his bad advice. Their
banter remains, and it's refreshing.
Spieth gives him a hard time for a full
beard -- Peterson spent the last two
months with his hands on a rifle instead
on a 6-iron, killing a turkey, two bobcats,
a seven-point and 10-point buck, two
does, two hogs and two raccoons on
family property outside Abilene, Texas.
Peterson questioned whether Spieth
could even grow peach fuzz.
"I'm just looking forward to calling him
'rookie' all year," said Spieth, who is three
years younger and $3 million richer.
Peterson won the Web.com Finals last
year by finishing among the top five in all
four tournaments. That gives a high
priority the entire season, along with a
spot in The Players Championship. He
already has made the cut in three majors,
including a tie for fourth at Olympic Club
in the U.S. Open.
He played three times when the
wraparound season began in October,
making one cut. The full year starts
Thursday in the Sony Open. For Peterson
and all the other newcomers, they only
have to look at what happened last year.
Henley and Scott Langley went toe-to-toe
playing in the last group, both of them
rookies.
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