Jordan Spieth won the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on Sunday, which is an achievement in and of itself, but the implications go a lot deeper than that. Spieth is rewriting the history books at such a young age in such a monumental way that we need to take a look at everything he accomplished with his win over Matt Kuchar.
Tiger Woods, of course, is the measuring stick held up against everyone from this (and every future) generation, and Spieth is acquainting himself nicely thus far. In fact, and I know this is hard to believe, Spieth is outpacing Woods in some ways. Let's take a look at the five most statistically impressive aspects of his Open win.
1. Second player with three legs of the Grand Slam before turning 24: Spieth's 24th birthday is next week, but on Sunday, he joined Jack Nicklaus as the only golfer to win three of the four majors before turning 24. As Dan Hicks pointed out on the NBC broadcast, Spieth will only have one shot at becoming the youngest to win the Grand Slam. Tiger Woods did it before turning 25, and Nicklaus accomplished it before turning 27.
2. Second player in modern era with three majors before turning 24: Again, we're talking about an all-time trajectory here. As Justin Ray pointed out, Spieth is also the first player in golf history with 10+ PGA Tour wins and three majors before turning 24.