smartcybers786@gmail.com 
#Rickie #Justin #Jordan #Sports
Embarrassing isn’t quite the right word, but there’s something a little … bemused … about how the golf media treated “Spring Break 2016.” If you’re old enough and plugged in enough, you’ll remember: Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Smiley Kaufman went on vacation and posted some photos and videos, and for a few days it dominated our little ecosystem. Stayed. But I can’t be too harsh on us if I’m not entirely comfortable with the levels of ridiculousness my colleagues and I put on this circle: they were having fun, and they were eager. They were four nice, likable young men near the top of their game, and being one of them seemed like a pretty awesome gig. If we want to enjoy it for a week, why not?
Looking back almost nine years later, you couldn’t have picked a better moment to freeze in time. Two weeks ago, Kaufman and Spieth went into the final group Sunday at the Masters, with Spieth leading his friend by a shot. While Kaufman shot 81, and Spieth faced his infamous 12th-hole quad to hand the green jacket to Danny Willett, their stars shone.
Spieth, of course, had just come off a stellar 2015, when he won two majors and came close in two others. Fowler accomplished the rare feat of finishing in the top five at every major in 2014, and a year later won the Players, Scottish Open and a FedEx Cup playoff event. Thomas stepped out of Spieth’s shadow by winning his first PGA Tour event last fall and winning in his first Masters appearance. To varying degrees, they were all rising stars. Fowler was 27, Kaufman was 24, Spieth and Thomas were 22.
Time and fate caught up with them. Kaufman’s golf star quickly faded, and today he plies his trade on TV. Spieth and Thomas won majors in the summer of 2017, and Thomas won another in 2022. Fowler had a long journey that took him deep into the game, before putting together a strong 2023 courtesy of his old coach Butch Harmon. Competing in the US Open and winning his first PGA Tour event in four years. All three of them have played in the Ryder Cup and the President’s Cup, they’ve been through highs and lows, and despite their struggles, they’ve never given up.
And yet, there was something about 2024 that felt like the end…or at least the beginning of the end. Golf is famously unpredictable, and a player’s prime lasts longer than any other major sport, so it’s too hasty to rule anyone out. But consider the results from this past season:
Fowler: Zero wins, one top-10 finish, just three top-20 finishes.
Spieth: Zero wins, three top 10 finishes, none since early April.
Thomas: Zero wins, seven top 10 finishes.
You wouldn’t call it a “bad” season by any reasonable standard for any of them—hell, Thomas made the Tour Championship!—but for the first time since the start of their careers, it felt like the trio had fallen behind in the popular conversation. moved away They were all less relevant.
Meanwhile, new stars have emerged, and older stars have eclipsed them in the spotlight. Rory McIlroy has famously struggled to win another major after his spectacular 2014, but his game remains elite, and his immersion in the LIV Golf-PGA Tour frenzy has him on everyone’s lips. Brooks Koepka rose and fell, but his height was ultimately exceeded by the three Americans.
Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau have made their own infamous arcs courtesy of a jump at LIV Golf.
Against these stars, Thomas, Spieth and Fowler pale in comparison. They are also old now. Fowler 35, Spieth and Thomas 31. And it’s hard to tell whether what happened to them is remarkable, considering what their pace was once, or if it’s just predictable and ebbing away at the larger truths. That time affects everyone differently and golf is tough.
It bears repeating that the stories aren’t over Thomas’ runner-up finish at the Hero World Challenge, suggesting that some offseason speed-training work could have him winning again soon—and that almost every fan and writer Heading back to life. Of the three, it bears repeating that the stories are not the same. The hardest reality for them to face, though, is that the game isn’t standing still. Golf is not waiting to find their old form. It just keeps getting better and younger as the years go by.
And that is the ultimate surprise when considering where they stand today. The future is unwritten, but what seemed like a temporary dip nine years ago now looks a little more intense, a little more worrisome, a little more permanent. In a sense, it seems that the guard has already changed, but no one wants to admit it. Such is the case in a sport where Tiger Woods continues to dominate the conversation well into his 50s (and indeed, in a sport where someone like Woods or Mickelson can do the unthinkable even in their late 40s). While the timeline may seem endless, the future possibilities are limitless.
But for the three stars who first embraced the notion of the game a decade ago, 2024 was more proof that even though the window to a great golf career closes slowly, it always does, with each passing Sunday. Closes with – Golf Digest
