Before taking on the challenge of The Players Championship, Jordan Spieth slipped seamlessly into the role of The Championship Person.
Dare we say he might be better at that than he is in golf? Who knows, but clearly Spieth has an uncanny knack for doing the right thing, for which he nonchalantly brushes aside any praise.
“Whatever I can do,” he told a small gathering of folks at Sawgrass Country Club late Wednesday afternoon. “I know it’s a very small world, that it’s a very tight-knit world.”
He didn’t have to do this but it’s the type of person he is. It was really, really cool of him. It means a lot to us.
He was telling parents and friends why he had accepted an invitation to stop by and visit with a group of special-needs children on behalf of the Tesori Family Foundation and in particular Isaiah Tesori.
He’s the 2-year-old son of veteran PGA Tour caddie Paul Tesori and his wife Michelle, and if anyone knows the joy that Isaiah will provide, it’s Spieth. His younger sister, Ellie, was born with a neurological disorder on the autism spectrum. Witnesses to the interaction between Jordan and Ellie wouldn’t hesitate to say the image far outshines anything involving the green jacket or U.S. Open trophy that Spieth won last year during a five-victory season.
Yet as Spieth spoke to parents and friends of these special-needs children, he shined the spotlight on the host, Tesori. “He’s a great man and a great role model for me,” Spieth said.