PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Here's how you know Jordan Spieth is a legitimate Next Big Thing -- and why we all need to remember the details of his birth certificate:
So it was about 40 minutes before Spieth teed off in the third round of the Players Championship. Paired with leader Martin Kaymer and trailing by a shot, Spieth was trying to further position himself for his second career PGA Tour victory and his first win since last July.
And that's when I heard someone inside the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse mention Spieth and then say, "You know, he's had trouble playing well on Saturdays and closing out on Sundays."
Wait ... what?
Spieth is 20. I repeat, 20. He isn't old enough to rent a car. He needs a fake ID to buy an adult beverage. Miguel Angel Jimenez has hair product older than Spieth.
So when someone suggests that Spieth can't handle the pressure, or can't close out a tournament, I want to smack them with a bunker rake.
Spieth has been a full member of the tour for about five minutes. OK, 10 months. Before that, he needed sponsor's exemptions to play, and not long before that, he was going through freshman orientation at the University of Texas.
He plays older. He carries himself older. But he looks like a can of shaving cream would last him a year.
His caddie, Michael Greller, taught sixth grade for 10 years before he quit to work for Spieth. It is the career move that keeps on giving.
"Dealing with 30 12-year-olds every day prepared me for Jordan," said Greller, smiling.
Greller turns 37 in June. Spieth turns 21 in July. To Spieth, 37 qualifies as AARP.
"He always says, `Take your cap off and show your bald spot,"' Greller said. "I tell him he gives me that bald spot."
Spieth might have contributed to Greller's male pattern baldness during Saturday's round. He was in the rough. He was under trees. He was next to drainage grates. He barely cleared the water. He left putts short. He powered putts long. He pulled the wrong club on No. 18.
And he's tied for the lead. And he hasn't bogeyed a hole during the entire tournament. In fact, he hasn't registered a bogey in his past 69 holes of play. Is that any good?