Future Longhorn Golfer Makes History At Byron Nelson

By Lynn Freehill in Blog on May 24, 2010 at 1:21 pm | 1 Comment

Jordan Spieth can be excused if he’s not in the mood to be studying for his high school exams this week.

Most 16-year-olds usually aren’t, but Spieth has an excuse besides claiming Lost ran too long.

It’s hard to focus on that Spanish final when ESPN is writing stories about you and Tony Romo wants to talk to you.

Spieth, a junior at Dallas’ Jesuit College Preparatory School who has committed to play golf at Texas beginning in fall 2011, shot a 1-under 69 on Friday at the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas, making him the sixth-youngest player to make a PGA Tour cut at 16 years, nine months, and 24 days.

His performance got him face time on SportsCenter and a chat with the Golf Channel commentators. The aforementioned Romo even stopped by to talk to Spieth.

He shot his best round Saturday with a 67 and finished tied for 16th at 4 under.

Spieth’s dream was to win the Byron Nelson, earning him a bid to the Masters. While that didn’t play out, he’s already one-upping some of those masters. Tiger Woods was 17 in 1993 when he first entered the tournament but shot a 77-72 and missed the cut.

Spieth doesn’t have his eyes on a pro career just yet, though. Once he’s done playing for Jesuit next year, he’s coming down to Austin to play as a Longhorn.

Unfortunately for Spieth’s bank account, because he’s still got to maintain his collegiate eligibility, he didn’t take home the same $94,250 that the other six players who tied for 16th did.

It’s probably a good thing, though. I imagine Spieth is distracted enough as it is, and according to Jesuit’s website, he’s got only four days until his foreign language and social studies exams.