Jordan Spieth Shows Why He's Box Office Viewing As He Starts 2023 In Style

Jordan Spieth is well known for being box office viewing but even for him his first round of 2023 was especially entertaining both on and off the course with some sublime shots accompanied with some nice interaction with the crowd.

Spieth pulled off one of the best flop shots you’ll see all year when short-sided and in a collar of rough just outside a greenside bunker, hoisting the ball miles into the air and landing it soft on the green and, predictably, sending it into the hole!

It’s a shot mere mortals would not even attempt and a shot that even hardened pros would think twice about, given the difficulty tariff on it meant that disaster was lurking.

Not Spieth though, who thrives off going for the Hollywood shots and the more he tries them the more they seem to come off.

It was the on-course highlight of Spieth’s six-under round at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii that saw him tied for 11th after the opening 18 holes.

In entertainment value, though, Spieth is the number one as he showcased on the 12th green at the Plantation Course at Kapalua on the island of Maui, after hearing some unusual murmurings from the crowd.

With a smaller crowd at the Hawaii events than other PGA Tour tournaments, conversations can be picked up easier by the players, and Spieth knew exactly what a couple of fans were discussing.  

“Guys, please,” was Spieth’s first response as he lined up a par putt. But when he made the putt he gave a more comical admonishment to the gamblers in the crowd who had been betting on the action.

“I appreciate the exchange of money,” Spieth added. “I’d be doing the same thing, but I could just hear you gambling right off the back of the green.”

When the fans apologised, Spieth gave them a fist bump and said “all good, you’re good” as he wandered off the green with a chuckle.

Spieth being Spieth though, just for good measure, the American threw in a missed two-foot putt for par in his round as well for his only bogey over a very enjoyable first round of the year for his legion of fans.