Spieth struggling since his world tour

Jordan Spieth’s terrible first round at the Northern Trust Open led to him missing the cut at the tournament.

When Jordan Spieth started the 2016 calendar year off with a victory at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions as the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii, we expected the year to be great one for the No. 1 player in the world, who rose to elite status in 2015.

But he has not been the same since that victory.

Spieth followed his victory with a world tour, playing gold in Asia and the Middle East, signing autographs and building his personal brand. He was doing this instead of staying on the PGA Tour and playing in competitive tournaments against the best in the world.

Spieth missed out on the Farmers Insurance Classic and the Waste Management Phoenix Open while he was globetrotting.

Maybe that was the mistake.

Something is off about Spieth’s game, particularly his putting.

He double-bogey’s the final green at the Northern Trust Open after missing two putts that would normally have been sure things for Spieth. But that was only the end of a miserable day in which he had eight other bogeys and finished with a 79, one of the worst rounds of his career.

He was better the next day, but it still was not enough as he missed the cut with a five-over through 36 holes.

It was an even worse week after coming off a disappointing 21st place finished at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he finished with a seven-under, but mixed in a 71 opening round and 74 third round.

He did not even win the European Tour event he was at in later January, playing at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. Then he had a second place finished at the Singapore Open, where he scored 70s on the second and third rounds.

Outside of the 79, those scored might not seem like terrible scores, but it’s not good for somebody who won three majors in the 2015.

At just 22-years-old, he obviously has plenty of time to get back on track, and there is no reason to believe he won’t. But Spieth cannot fall into the trap of letting his fame and notoriety overtake his position as a golfer. There is nothing wrong with a 22-year-old star traveling the world and enjoying life, but it just seems curious that Spieth’s struggles have coincided with his world tour where he was doing more press events and public appearances than working on his game.

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Corey Johns

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You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.

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