1. Jordan Spieth makes history as two-time U.S. Junior winner
When a 17-year-old Jordan Spieth claimed his second U.S. Junior title in 2011, he became just the second golfer in the history of the championship to accomplish that feat. Tiger Woods won three consecutive Junior Amateur titles from 1991 to 1993.
“Any time you can be compared to any of Tiger’s golf accomplishments, it’s very special,” Spieth told media at the time. “You know, he won it three years in a row. I’m glad to have gotten two of them, so now I can’t play in this one anymore, I’m going to go after the Amateurs that he won. But as of the present moment, I’m very happy to have won this coming in as a past champion and being able to make it through again.”
As it turns out, Spieth, who won his first U.S. Junior in 2009, never won a U.S. Amateur title. But his junior career, which ended that day at the Olympic Course at Golf Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington, laid a solid foundation for what has followed for Spieth as a professional. He has been a walking advertisement for the power of competitive junior golf, reaching the professional circuit with help from competitive experience he gained against his peers (notably Justin Thomas, Oliver Schniederjans and Patrick Rodgers).