Jordan Spieth has won three Majors, the FedEx Cup and has been World Number One for 26 weeks. Scottie Scheffler has won two Majors, the FedEx Cup and has been World Number One for 137 weeks. Both live in Texas and made their debut on the PGA Tour at the same tournament: the Byron Nelson. The tournament being played this week at TPC Craig Ranch. Spieth played it for the first time in 2010 at the age of 16, made the cut and finished in 16th place. Scheffler played it in 2014 at the age of 17, made the cut and finished in 22nd place.
As you can see, the similarities are more than reasonable. And yet, there’s still one missing, probably the most important one this week. Neither of them has managed to win their tournament. Because it can’t be defined any other way. Their tournament. The Byron Nelson gave them their break when they were just youngsters and they play at home, in Dallas. Simply, an ‘unforgivable’ gap in the CV of these two superstars. Each of them has won 13 times on the PGA Tour. They would trade any of their victories, except the majors, obviously, let’s not go crazy, for the Byron Nelson.
The matter is a bit more painful for Spieth, if only because of the number of attempts. The wunderkind has played the Byron Nelson twelve times, while Scheffler has barely had five appearances. Don’t think their results are overwhelming. It’s not like they’ve knocked on the door a thousand times. For example, Spieth finished second in 2022, but beyond that, he only has one more top 10, just the year before, when he finished ninth. That said, he’s only missed the cut twice. They’re not disastrous numbers, but they seem somewhat short for a player of his stature.
Scheffler’s case is not far off. He’s made the cut all five times, but his best result is a fifth place in 2023. Precisely, that year he was leading the tournament after carding two rounds of 64 on Thursday and Friday. Beyond that top 5, the truth is Scheffler doesn’t have any more top 10s. Last year, when he won almost everything, he didn’t compete because it coincided with the birth of his son Bennett. The Byron Nelson is not the type of tournament Scottie Scheffler would play if it weren’t for where it’s held. In fact, of the entire world top 20, besides the Number One, only Sungjae Im is in Texas this week, having just played a tournament in South Korea.
As if there weren’t enough coincidences between Spieth, Scheffler, and the Byron Nelson, it turns out the PGA Tour has decided to put them together in the first two rounds. It’s more than just the star match. Everyone would sign up for a head-to-head between the two on Sunday. The place would be buzzing. It doesn’t seem far-fetched either, even though Spieth isn’t exactly going through the most reliable moment of his golfing life.
