PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Not long after Tom Brady helped author the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, his phone buzzed with one of what was undoubtedly hundreds of text messages.
This particular one came from Jordan Spieth, a friend through their mutual Under Armour allegiances. He didn’t just want to say congratulations to the New England Patriots quarterback, though. He wanted to elaborate on what he’d witnessed.
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Jordan Spieth got into a spat with professional autograph-seeking “scums,” saying they need to “get a job” instead of profiting off his name.
“I texted him right after the Super Bowl, obviously saying that was really inspiring what he was able to do,” Spieth confided Tuesday afternoon.
It might be careless to connect the dots from Spieth’s inspiration after the Brady-led Super Bowl win directly to his own victory the next Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but there are some definitive parallels between the mindsets.
No, the 23-year-old golfer didn’t need to mount a historic comeback at Pebble — in fact, he parlayed a six-stroke lead through 54 holes into a four-shot triumph that looked like he’d had it on cruise control during the entire final round. And yet, it can also be argued that the past 10 months have been Spieth’s equivalent of the Patriots’ fourth quarter.
He famously — or perhaps infamously — lost last year’s edition of the Masters Tournament when his seemingly insurmountable lead twice splashed into the bottom of Rae’s Creek. The result has been nearly a full year of questions ranging from “How will you bounce back from your Masters loss?” to “What if you never bounce back from your Masters loss?”
Granted, those queries have died down considerably in recent months, but anyone still questioning his resolve in the wake of that defeat should take a good, hard look at his results table ever since. In 18 worldwide starts, he has won three times, claimed 10 top-10 finishes and missed the cut just once.
If there’s a positive that’s come from failing to earn the green jacket for a second straight year, it’s that Spieth appears toughened up, maybe playing with more of that proverbial chip on his shoulder than he’d owned in the past.
That just leads to another Patriots parallel.
When asked in advance of this week’s Genesis Open about the potential of basking in last week’s victory, Spieth went full Bill Belichick in his response.
“I’m very focused on this week and recognize that by Tuesday afternoon no one really cares anymore,” he said. “And that’s fine. It’s on to the next one.”
Sound familiar?
Just as the Patriots’ cantankerous head coach bemoaned his team’s championship run by insisting they were five weeks behind in preparing for the next season, Spieth is similarly moving forward without looking back.
He has the trophy from Sunday’s victory with him this week, but that’s only because he hasn’t gone anywhere he could drop it off. Hasn’t taken it to the nearest nightclub, hasn’t taken a sip out of it — even water.
“I don’t plan to,” he maintained. “I’m just planning on bringing it home.”
Of Spieth’s nine career victories, none have come in back-to-back starts, a feat he’d like to cross off his checklist here at Riviera Country Club. He knows it’s possible, of course. In some non-football inspiration, he earned a pair of third-place finishes in Hawaii last month while watching longtime friend Justin Thomas peel off consecutive wins.
As for that other inspiration, one of the hundreds of text messages Spieth received after his latest victory came from Brady. Game recognizes game, as they say, and the Super Bowl MVP wanted to say congratulations to his friend.
What was Spieth’s response to that?
“I haven’t gotten back to [him] yet,” he explained with full sincerity.
That’s right. A famous friend, the guy who just orchestrated the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, sent a text message, and Spieth just put it aside because — to put it in Patriots parlance — he must do his job.
In other words, he’s on to Riviera.
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