It was just 3 years ago that this Jordan Speith was anointed as the next great one. Then came his epic meltdown at the Masters. This guy just missed another cut and seems he can't do anything right. Don't worry though, all his fans will be out bashing Tiger Woods.
He is a guaranteed Hall of Famer who currently has 3 major titles, 1 Fed-Ex Cup, and 11 total PGA wins... all at the incredibly young age of 25. In the Masters "meltdown" that you mentioned he still finished tied for 2nd. And in his five trips to the Masters he has four top-5 finishes (including a win and two 2nd's) which is a ridiculously solid record. The only major he hasn't won, the PGA Championship, he finished 2nd once. Yes, he is currently in a slump, but being only 25 he has plenty of time to recover. Remember — Phil Mickelson didn't win his first major until the ripe old age of 33 and he's now got a total of 5. Anyway, don't write Jordan off, he is still destined to be one of the greats of the game.
Good perspective Magna. Personally, I believe that Spieth has a bit too much of the "perfectionist" bug in him. He seems to tirelessly tinker with certain aspects of his game, go thru an extended slump, then post a remarkably solid round out of nowhere. The critics seem to always bring up the near misses, while completely overlooking the fact that he can make it onto the first page of the leaderboard while fighting his swing, missing bundles of short putts and generally not playing to his best. In that regard, he can be compared to a Rory McIlroy; another player who blew away fields in major's early in his career, but has struggled to live up to his own lofty expectations.
Go ahead and run the stats of which other tour players reached 11 tour wins and 3 major's at his age.
You got me curious so I did a little research. Talking about the "modern" era, in the entire history of golf since the Masters began in 1934 only four players have won at least 3 majors through the age of 25 — Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. That's pretty damn good company to be in. To put some perspective on that accomplishment, Arnold Palmer didn't win his first major until the age of 28. Ben Hogan was 34. Sam Sneed was 30. Tom Watson was 26. Dustin Johnson was 32. Gary Player won once by the age of 25. And the great Seve Ballesteros came closest to joining that exclusive club but didn't win his third major until after he turned 26.
Seems many of the great golfers become compelled to "change their swing" even after achieving enormous success. Tiger has done it a few times, Lydia Ko, others... including Spieth right now. Even if eventually successful, they often spend a significant amount of time where their game is "out of sorts". Seems "winning lots" isn't enough, so they try to change their swing... even while things are going great for them... with the expectation they will become even better so they can win more. Often doesn't work out as hoped.
Good observation. There is an army of would-be gurus out there, whispering to them at the range or the gym that their swing has technical flaws but the guru can make it right. In Speith's case, his swing requires more timing than most of the other big guns. When he gets tight, he tends to miss right. He has s weak grip and therefore has to rotate the face a fair amount to get it square and that gets tougher when your mouth is dry coming down the stretch.