It didn't take this past weekend's U.S. Open golf tournament for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golf coach Mark Guhne to realize Jordan Spieth is a rare talent.
Guhne needed only a September weekend watching Spieth compete against the Mocs during the 2012 Carpet Capital Collegiate at The Farm in Rocky Face, Ga., to believe he was probably catching an early glimpse of golf's next big thing.
"We played against him several times that year," Guhne recalled on the morning after the 21-year-old Texan became the youngest player to win our national golf championship since Bobby Jones in 1923.
"You knew right away he wouldn't stay in college long. He was just different. Even back then you could tell he was special."
It may surprise some to learn that a different Texas Longhorn than Spieth won that year's Carpet Capital tourney. Then-freshman teammate Brandon Stone beat the sophomore Spieth by two strokes - 204 to 206 - in the three-round event.
Jordan Spieth holds up the trophy after winning the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Chambers Bay on Sunday, June 21, 2015, in University Place, Wash.Within a few months, and before the 2012-13 school year ended, Spieth turned pro. By June of 2013, Stone followed. Yet while Spieth will attempt to become the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open in the same year when he takes on the Old Course at St. Andrews in mid-July, the South African native Stone's path has been a bit less smooth. His best finish this year has been a second at the Barclays Kenya Open on the Euro Challenge Tour, where he pocketed 22,000 Euros for his effort.
By contrast, Spieth has won $6,063,837.50 this year, which places him atop the PGA earnings list this week.
That stat did not stop UTC assistant sports information director Jim Horton from joking Monday, "Jordan couldn't win the Carpet Capital, but he's won the Masters and the U.S. Open. Go figure."
Asked if he thought Spieth turned pro over his frustration in not winning the Carpet Capital, Horton replied, "No comment."
Guhne has plenty of comments regarding Spieth, however, almost all of them wildly positive, including the belief that he has the game to become the first person ever to win golf's Grand Slam - Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship - in the same calendar year.
"I don't know that he has the greatest swing," Guhne said. "But he just might be the mentally toughest kid I've ever seen. He just always figures out a way to hit a great shot when he has to. All the truly great ones - Nicklaus, Palmer, Tiger - have that, and Jordan has certainly shown that ability thus far."
That toughness was certainly on display on Sunday's 18th hole, after Spieth's double-bogey on 17 cost him the lead. Now tied, he birdied the final hole, a par 5, which stood up after Dustin Johnson's shocking three-putt for par a few minutes later.
"I remember his freshman year at Texas," Guhne said. "We're at the NCAA Championships at Riviera Country Club (in Los Angeles). He wasn't intimidated at all. He handled himself like a pro, and partly because of that, Texas wound up winning the championship."
The player most believed would be passing Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles right about now - Tiger Woods - finished two strokes behind former UTC golfer Stephan Jaeger at the Open, both men missing the cut.
"It's always good to kick Tiger's (behind)," Guhne said with a chuckle. "Stephan played so well. With seven holes left on Friday it looked like he was going to make the cut. Two bad holes kept him from playing on the weekend. But to have a UTC guy in a major was pretty special. The thing with Stephan is he'll come back from this even hungrier than he's been, and that's hard to do."
University of Texas golfer Jordan Spieth shakes hands with LSU's Andrew Presley after completing the 18th hole at the 2012 Carpet Capital Collegiate in Rocky Face, Ga.There used to be no one hungrier or more successful than Woods. But he's now missed the cut at two of his last three majors, and Guhne said Tiger's troubles are one very big reason he'd hate to see anyone attempt to alter Spieth's swing.
"Tiger's got one of the worst swings on the tour now," the coach said. "He can't play dead. He should probably go back to (former coach) Butch Harmon if he expects to be a force again."
Let Spieth win one or two more majors over the next 12 months and Guhne believes he could possibly replace Tiger as not only America's best player but also its most popular one.
"I think him having great success is really important to American golf," he said. "We need to get a great young American out there to compete with Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen and those guys. And Spieth's a guy everybody can be a fan of. He's such a great young man."
Spieth apparently already has hooked the German-born Jaeger.
After the Open concluded, the Baylor School grad sent out a tweet explaining that he'd been in the crowd at the Masters and on the course at Chambers Bay. "Just sayin," Jaeger wrote. "You might want to send me tickets to St. Andrews."
Thanks to Spieth's wins at the Masters and U.S. Open, tickets to the British Open should indeed be at a premium.
But unlike some American golf superstars, Guhne believes Spieth's appeal is only partially due to his golfing skills.
"Jack Nicklaus knew how to treat people," he said. "He was gracious when he got beat and never rubbed it in when he won. He never said the wrong thing. Jordan's like that. He never says or does the wrong thing. We need an American like that."
Especially if he can keep playing like Jack did.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.