Can Jordan Spieth Snap This Crazy PGA Trend?

Jordan Spieth will look to snap this recent PGA trend on Sunday at this year’s Valspar Championship.

Jordan Spieth heads into the final round of this year’s Valspar Championship with a real chance to claim his first PGA Tour win since last year’s remarkable finish at the RBC Heritage where he outlasted Patrick Cantlay in a playoff.

The thirteen-time winner on Tour conjured up a moment of magic from a greenside bunker to set up a tap-in par putt which was good enough for the win last April. On Saturday at this year’s Valspar Championship, Jordan was up to his old tricks once again.

Spieth’s roller-coaster of a round on Saturday included an eagle, five birdies, and five bogeys. Jordan almost constantly found himself in a position where he was left scrambling to save par almost immediately after adding a birdie to his card.

His third round-69 was in complete contrast to that of Tommy Fleetwood’s; despite the fact that they both walked off the Copperhead course with the exact same tally on Saturday evening.

The Englishman also carded a 69 for this third round and he, alongside Spieth, finds himself in a share for second and just one shot back of leader Adam Schenk. Fleetwood’s bogey-free round included sixteen pars and just two birdies, a stark contrast to that of Spieth’s.

Harkening back to last year’s playoff at the RBC Heritage, Jordan Spieth, on several different occasions during his third round produced moments of pure magic from the sand.

The most notable was one of the most remarkable shots that you will probably see all year when Jordan hit a bunker shot out of one bunker, which cleared another, before landing in the greenside rough prior to rolling softly onto the green.

The incredible third shot on the Par 5, 11th, set up a putt of about three and half feet for the birdie; which Spieth quickly dispatched.

Despite the chaotic, or as some would note; ‘typical’, scorecard for Jordan Spieth on Saturday, he still finds himself just a shot off the pace heading into Sunday’s final round at this year’s Valspar Championship.

Both Jordan and Tommy Fleetwood will be aiming to deny 31-year-old, Adam Schenk, his first PGA win on Sunday.

Can Jordan Spieth put an end to this recent PGA trend?

Fleetwood will also be looking for his first breakthrough on the PGA Tour on Sunday, but unlike Schenk, the Englishman has plenty of previous experience winning on the DP World Tour and around the globe. 

If either Jordan or Tommy chases down Schenk on Sunday to win the Valspar Championship, they would snap a current streak that has seen each of the last seven winners on the PGA Tour leading after 54 holes.

Justin Rose, (AT&T Pebble), Scottie Scheffler (WM Phoenix), Jon Rahm (Genesis), Chris Kirk (Honda), Nico Echavarria (Puerto Rico), Kurt Kitayama (Arnold Palmer), and Scheffler again last week at the Players Championship, all held the lead heading into Sunday prior to winning.

In addition, as Justin Ray alluded to, each of the last three winners on Tour to have held a one-shot lead entering the final round went on to win.

It certainly won’t come easy for Schenk on Sunday at this year’s Valspar Championship with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Webb Simpson, and others looking to capitalize should he even remotely falter.

But if Adam does indeed hang on and claim that precious first PGA Tour win, he would extend a pretty remarkable streak in the process. It will be up to Jordan Spieth and others to deny him that opportunity during Sunday’s final round.