The 2021 Major season: Winners and Losers
By Bill Felber
Jordan Spieth
Like Koepka, Spieth’s 2021 season revitalized Spieth’s flagging rise up the career chart.
Highlighted by a tie for third at the Masters and a runner-up at the British Open, Spieth enjoyed his two highest pair of Major finishes in several years.
Having begun the year with a career score of -6.85, Spieth improved that to -11.93. That elevated him a full 20 spots on the career list, from 73rd to 53rd. In the process he surpassed a bunch of guys you’ve heard of: Jimmy Demaret, Young Tom Morris, Old Tom Morris, Rory McIlroy and Billy Casper among them.
He will begin the 2022 season hot on the heels of another dozen guys who are close enough to catch. They include Chick Evans, Francis Ouimet, Phil Mickelson and Peter Thomson.
If Spieth can pad his career score by five points in 2022 – a challenge, but something he did this year – he would leap those 20 places and stand 37th among the all-time greats.
Spieth’s peak rating began the year at -2.05, and despite a -2.50 finish at the British Open he was unable to improve upon it. He set that peak between 2014 and 2018, and at this stage it may be close to out of reach. It happens that Spieth ranks 11th on the peak list, fractionally ahead of Koepka; indeed he is Koepka’s next target on that list.