Jordan Spieth won the RBC Heritage earlier this year and could complete a major grand slam at the PGA Championship this week. (Photo by RBC Heritage)
This could be a historic week for a lot of reasons at the PGA Championship in Tulsa and one reason is Jordan Spieth has a chance to complete the career major grand slam if he can win.
He’s paired in the first two rounds with Tiger Woods and Rory McElroy, two of the world’s most popular players, and this trio will have the biggest galleries today and Friday.
However, it was something far different than winning the tournament Spieth said at Wednesday’s PGA Championship press conference that caught my attention.
He was asked what it meant to him to sign an autograph for a young fan and if he had gone after autographs from professional athletes when he was a kid.
“I remember going with my dad to the Byron Nelson (Classic), and that’s all I wanted to do was get my ticket signed by as many guys as I could. I’d wait out, just to have that personal interaction. That’s what’s pretty unique in our sports, right, is that up-close, personal interaction, even tournament days or these practice round days. It’s really cool,” said Spieth.
“I think when it’s the kids, it’s awesome because like last week, I gave a ball to a kid walking off maybe on Saturday, and he just lit up and turned around and was screaming. For me I was just kind of walking by like here’s a ball, and then when I kind of thought about it, I was like, man, that made this kid’s day. That’s really cool. It would have been the same for me back then.”
You see the same type of excitement when a UK athlete, especially a major star, stops to sign an autograph or take a picture with a young fan — and a lot of them do it all the time just like PGA players do. However, I still think UK could try and find more ways to make the athletes accessible to young fans.
“Some weeks, this week, majors in particular, you have really large crowds on the practice round days. So it’s hard sometimes to get everybody, and I don’t. But I think people appreciate it if you’re passing them, and you just at least say, ‘Hey, look, I need to get my work done and I’m going to be here afterwards and I’ll sign some there.’ They seem to appreciate that more than just kind of walking by,” Spieth said.
“Try to do that the best I can. Certainly for every two you get, you miss one, and that’s just kind of how it works. But if you try to get everybody every day, it can really wear on you out here.”
“Work is first, but try and make sure — we’re out here because there’s fans of golf, so we’re entertainers to an extent, too, so I think for the most part, pretty much everybody is really good about finding those that are supporting them and giving them a little bit of time.”
One Response
I volunteered for the RBC Heritage this year. When Jordan finished his final round I was near the scorers tent. When he came out, the kids started yelling for autographs. He told them he needed to relax for a few minutes and if he had to do a playoff, he would come back, win or lose, and sign all of their stuff. They hung around and sure to his word, he returned, complete with the plaid jacket and stayed until everyone got their autographs. That made me a Jordan Speith fan.