Jordan Spieth Rates His 2016 Season With B+ Grade

By Kathlene Bissell | Dec 3, 2016

Sep 23, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Jordan Spieth tees off the sixth hole during the second round of the tour championship at East Lake Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports /

Although there’s been plenty of discussion about Jordan Spieth’s season, how did the man himself grade his year?

When asked how to rate his 2016, Jordan Spieth said he would not give himself an A.

“I would say a B/B+,” he told media at the Hero World Challenge.

He cited his two PGA Tour victories, the Tournament of Champions and the Dean and DeLuca, and added the Ryder Cup as a victory. When combined with his recent Australian Open success (his second in three years at that event), he counted it as four victories, although the record books will only show three titles because the Ryder Cup is a team event.

More from Golf News

It was less than he probably expected after a stunning 2015 when he won two majors (Masters and U.S. Open), had a chance to win two additional majors (British Open and PGA), won two additional PGA Tour events (Valspar and John Deere) and won the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship for five victories and a boatload of cash. That year was more than a career for most PGA Tour players, but Spieth said at the end of it, he did not see why he couldn’t continue to play even better.

This past season, after winning in Hawaii, he nearly did win again at the Masters, and came back from that stunning defeat to win at Dean and DeLuca just six weeks later. However, he was not able to recapture the 2015 form at the majors.

“What I’m able to draw back on is just the knowledge that it’s there. It was there recently,” he explained.

But somehow it’s easier to win if you’ve won recently.

“When you go for five, six months at a time without closing one out, that’s when it gets a bit harder,” he added. May, he reminded everyone, was six months before his Australian victory.

“It was tough, in Australia was tough,” he said. “I was coming back from a lot of rest and very little practice.”

However, the recent victory tells him he can win now.

“I think into next year, what it can do is the beginning of the year, I have something very quickly to draw back on and that’s very important if you work your way into contention,” he added. “It provides momentum into this week, which in combination, if I can work my way into contention, I now have shots and putts under the gun last week I can look back on to gain momentum out of this week.”

Whether Spieth is able to overcome the strong but small field at the Hero World Invitational remains to be seen. However, he is climbing up the leaderboard, and his most recent tournament results tell him he is ready to win again.

After this week, Spieth will be off until the Tournament of Champions where he is the defending champ after which he intends to play a good schedule on the PGA Tour.

Next: The Vertical Groove Driver That Could Change Golf Equipment Forever

“I’m actually probably playing more tournaments from January to hopefully the Presidents Cup on the PGA Tour,” he said. “I’m going to play a couple tournaments I’ve played before that I didn’t play this past year early on in the season and keep myself on the PGA Tour schedule, try and get in a rhythm there early in the season as we build up into Augusta.”