Spieth & Reed lead US Open

Edited by Anand Datla

June 20, 2015:

American fans aren’t getting their traditional U.S. Open this week. The high rough and narrow fairways have been replaced by firm fescue and wide landing areas that make “angles” and “options” common terms.

Saturday’s final group at Chambers Bay may be a welcome sight to the domestic crowd, though. Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed are two young Texans who have collected a handful of PGA TOUR titles before their 25th birthday.

Four of the past five U.S. Opens have been won by Europeans, but Reed and Spieth may offer a respite from recent results. The two co-leaders hail from the land of Hogan and Nelson, a state that wasn’t the birthplace for golf in this nation but played a key role in its formative years.

They’re tied at 5-under 135. They’ve shared teeing grounds since a junior golf, beaten each other in PGA TOUR playoffs and paired together to energize the United States at last year’s Ryder Cup. Their names are never far apart on lists of the game’s young stars.

“Any time I play with Jordan, I enjoy it,” Reed said. “The main thing for me is to stay focused on what I need to do to play some good golf, and plot my way around this golf course, especially if it gets firmer and faster.”

The gun slinging will only be metaphorical on Saturday, but their provided meetings have provided plenty of drama. They’re friendly enough that their showdowns are fun to watch. Spieth gave Reed a thumbs-up after Reed’s difficult approach shot that led to his Wyndham win. Their Ryder Cup success sprinkled some optimism into Team USA’s future in spite of last year’s loss. They had enough chemistry to go 2-0-1 at Gleneagles, including two matches won by 5-up margins.

There are enough contrasts to add intrigue, though.

Spieth is nicknamed “Golden Child.” Reed still gets heckled for declaring himself, possibly prematurely, among the game’s elite. Spieth’s biggest infraction may be his endearing habit of yelling at his golf ball in mid-flight. Reed shushed an entire continent at last year’s Ryder Cup, a gutsy move for a member of the road team in golf’s most-heated contest (he backed up his bravado by winning the match over Henrik Stenson). Spieth is one of the TOUR’s most popular players. Reed is known for being a loner, keeping close only to a tight circle he calls Team Reed.

Their first playoff happened came at the 2013 Wyndham Championship, when both were in the midst of their first full seasons on TOUR. It ended when Reed hit a low, hooking 7-iron from a fade lie and under trees to set up a clinching birdie.

They faced off again this year, with Reed making a 30-footer on the final hole of regulation that sent his fists flying. He extended the affair by getting up-and-down from a plugged lie in a bunker, but Spieth ended things with a 30-foot birdie of his own.

Their showdown at the Valspar Championship in March made 140-character limits seem overly restrictive and provided plenty of fodder for GIFs. That is the equivalent to boldfaced headlines in 2015. There is substance to their style, though.

Spieth owns three PGA TOUR victories, including this year’s Masters. The 2014 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship is among Reed’s four PGA TOUR titles.

Spieth is known for hard-nosed scrambling and well-timed putting. Reed’s ballstriking is his specialty. He hit 13 of 18 greens Friday en route to five birdies and an eagle at the drivable par-4 12th; he also made six bogeys, saying he failed to get up-and-down once.

Spieth finished Friday’s round with a birdie at the par-3 ninth after a bogey at No. 7 and a disappointing par at the par-5 eighth, where he missed a 10-foot birdie putt.

“My patience and realization that this golf course is going to test your nerve, and it’s how you rebound from it, … certainly kicked in there,” Spieth said.

Spieth has one advantage entering tomorrow’s showdown. He’s already a major champion. He led the two weekend rounds at this year’s Masters, too. He held a five-shot lead after two rounds at Augusta National and was four ahead after 54 holes. He eventually won by the same margin.

Spieth is seeking to become just the sixth player to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year. He’ll draw on his experience there, but also admits that was a vastly different scenario. Augusta National’s verdant fairways weren’t as firm as Chambers Bay’s firm, amber fescue. He was driving the ball better at the Masters, too.

“I’m not quite putting myself in the same positions off the tee, so I’ve got to be a little more methodical,” Spieth said. “At Augusta, I was kind of finding fairways, hitting it on the green and I was making everything. That would be nice here if I could do that, but it’s a harder golf course than the Masters this year.”

His doesn’t have a lead like the one he held at Augusta, but he’ll face a familiar foe.

Follow Us: Twitter.com/GolfingIndian

Join Us: Facebook.com/GolfingIndian

Download Our APP Here

Source: PGA TOUR Website