Jordan Effing Spieth

Ryan's "demise" started well before the 68 Olympics. He had trained his whole life aimed at the 68 Games. I watched him at the 68 Texas Relays, and he was definitely a different person. The Sprint Medley may be the greatest race I ever saw - 8 teams finishing within 3 yards of each other. Ryan anchored Kansas, Roger Colglasier (sp) was a star that day along with Dave Morton. Texas freshman from Memorial. Ryan faded down the stretch & K-State, ACC, Texas, Lamar, TSU, maybe aTm.

Seven days later, Lamar's track team perished in a plane crash returning from the Drake or Kansas relays when the Beaumont airport manager turned off the runway lights 20 minutes before they arrived.

 

Lamar track team recalls deadly plane crash on 50th anniversary of the event | 12newsnow.com

 

Crashed "just miles away from Airport"? How about hit the power lines on Hwy 90 near the end of the runway - at least that's what Mr Richardson told me. Mr & Mrs Richardson had two children, an autistic daughter & John. No one in their family had ever been to college, but John got a track scholarship for the 880. Great guy with not an enemy in the world. He worked his *** off on the track and in the classroom. John only ever dated one girl - they went steady from like the 10th or 11th grade.

There was absolutely no reason for those runway lights to have been turned off, YET, once the pilot saw them off, it was only about 4-5 miles to the commercial airport in Nederland, which had multiple runways, including one long enough to accommodate a 747. Mr Leger would have used his carryall to take them to their cars in Beaumont for free.

John's parents sold their house & real estate in Port Neches and moved up to East Texas, never returning to Mid-County.

The Saturday before there were several of us gathered in the infield at Memorial Stadium and John was one of us. So was Charlie Henry, who would later become the Oilers trainer. Charlie was supposed to be on that plane, but Coach Terrell wanted a sub in case of injury and left Charlie in Jefferson County.

 

That Sprint Medley was unbelievable as was Morton. Anyone who could set records in both the 880 and 440 had more internal fortitude than most on this earth.

 

Another article surmises the pilot had a heart attack, or hear issues during landing. Wouldn’t surprise me all of the above to blame.

 

Viper,

As I recall, Dave hauled in a 44.9 quarter and a 1:44 half. Rice & LSU were also there, with Connelly Brown and Carl Height running. Brown was Dave Morton three years before Dave got to Austin.

Carl turned in a quarter at the Texas Relays after his brother and ??? (went to TCU) dropped the baton in the mile relay, and Carl got it in eighth place and passed everyone but Brown in 1965. Hand times with a flying start at sub 45 quarter. Interesting note, that his was only the second time that Liberty HS team had run the mile relay with both Carl & Rusty running it. Old timers talked about that & Lam Jones quarters as the best they'd ever seen.

 

Whew. Glad Spieth was able to avoid this.

 

Wish he had avoided that damn house.

 

The house or the wife?

 

Back on thread topic.....

HE'S BAAAAAAAAACK !!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO JORDAN !!!

WINS THE VALERO OPEN SUNDAY BY 2 STROKES!

 

Thank goodness

 

Jordan won last week and is currently at -2 and 2 off the lead at the Masters....I hate to say it after the Georgia bowl win, but Spieth might just be back.

 

Let's see where he is going into Sunday. I dont want to jinx him.

 

That's why I said he "might" be back. There are several announcers on the golf channel this morning that are basically saying the same thing. We're all trying to not jinx Jordan.



Hook'em

 

Well Jordan is in at -5, two behind the current leader Rose. So he is up there with the leaders going into the weekend.

Go Spieth.

 

Considering the leader usually fades due to pressure and the bullseye on his back, he is in the preferred position.

 

And he avoided the "disaster hole" today. The triple on #9 yesterday now looms large - if he had held that to a bogey, he'd be tied for the lead at the end of two rounds.

 

I really like his chances. Here’s why:

Confidence - At San Antonio, he did everything he had to do to win. He did that with Hoffman breathing down his neck, hole by hole. Yet he played almost perfectly. So he knows now that he is ready to perform under pressure.

Augusta - As everyone knows, Augusta fits his game very well. He has a tremendous track record and he understands that one or two bad holes will not necessarily derail him. Having that understanding is big. I also think that his triple yesterday on nine could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Karma - No doubt karma is in his corner. He’s a good guy, and an excellent representative of the game. Contrast that to someone like Justin Thomas, an excellent player, who simply never seems to be happy. He never smiles. It’s a real bummer watching him.

Luck - As Jordan said, his eagle on 15 yesterday he was the luckiest shot of his professional career. I see that as an omen.

 

Spieth still in the hunt, but the real story yesterday that most on HornFans (yes including HIC) can relate to was Kim's destroying his putter by grinding it into the 15th Green after missing a put. Since he didn't have a second putter in his bag he had to finish the round using a fairway metal as a putter. Even with that he still shot a 69.

 

This is why I was never a big fan of Tiger, he was constantly losing his temper and hitting the ground with his golf club in anger. I just never thought that showed much class or respect for the game of golf...

I don't think Si Woo Kim is going to earn my respect after that display yesterday, especially on or around the green.

Jordan 'Effing' Spieth , on the other hand, continues to show class befitting a representative of our great University.

Although there is that little incident when Jordan threw his golf club after holing out from the sand trap at the Travelers to win over Daniel Berger.

 

Some people just have the “It” factor. They have charisma, and people gravite to them. Palmer was exactly that, and he captured the admiration of the public. Nicklaus wasn’t. Maybe Seve. Certainly not Thomas, Koepka or DeChambeau.

Spieth is this generation’s Arnold Palmer. That’s an “out there” contention, but I believe it to be true. You can hear it in the commentary from Nance, Faldo, Azinger, and the others.

 

Please don't invoke Azinger again. Lol.

 

Jordan at 6 under, 1 off the lead.

Oops....back to 5 under.

 

Down to 3 under, then an incredible approach shot sets up a short putt for a birdie to put him back at 4 under after 8, 3 off the lead. Rain delay

 

hic
When I think of Azinger I think of how he battled and beat brain cancer.

 

Maybe so, but he's a total douchecanoe in his commentary.

 

Lots of missed opportunities today, and some really poor putts, particularly the ones he left short. It’s almost like he didn’t factor in the effect of the rain.

 

Well unfortunately looks like Jordan is not going to win the Masters this year. He's too far back. Even if Matsuyama shoots even par Jordan would have to shoot six under just to tie and go to extra holes. And then there are others starting out today that are closer in score to Matsuyama. So Jordan's chances are somewhere between 3 and ten percent. If he finishes in top 5 or top 3 it will be a good outcome.

 

Jordan Tied with two others for 2nd at -7. Playing 14 now.

 

Top 5 likely