If you feel like there’s some déjà vu going on this Sunday regarding Jordan Spieth, well you’re not alone. Just seven days after Spieth held a share of the lead entering the final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, he once again is out front in a PGA Tour event. Only this time the 27-year-old three-time major winner is alone at the top, ahead by two strokes over a fivesome of golfers at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and he’s not just riding the wave of an impressive third round but rather an inspired three days on the Monterey Peninsula.
Of course this is all important in the context of what Spieth hasn’t done in the previous three-plus years. Namely grab a 12th career PGA Tour title. It was something he could not do last week in the Arizona desert, a closing one-over 72 leaving him in a tie for fourth after Brooks Koepka stormed past with a Sunday 65 to win the title.
Spieth’s winless drought, as has been well documented, sits at 78 PGA Tour starts since that last victory at the 2017 Open Championship. As we outlined last week, the contrast between his play in the tournaments prior to that last win compared to those after it is striking, particularly when you look at Spieth’s earnings in those events. In his last 78 starts, Spieth had made $9,104,081 in prize money. Let’s say it again, that’s a handsome amount despite walking away with no victories. It’s just that it’s paltry compared to his earnings in the 78 starts before, where they totaled $25,030,605.
A couple of factors to consider this Sunday bode well for those rooting on Spieth. Impressively, Spieth has been tied or alone in the lead 17 times now in his still young PGA Tour career entering the final round and pulled out a win on nine occasions. That’s a better than 50 percent clip, so the law of averages would suggest that since he didn’t do it last week, this week could/should be the time. (Then again, he’s 0-for-3 when leading after 54 holes during that winless drought, so the law of averages hasn’t been working for him lately).
Of those 17 times Spieth has been a leader entering the final round, 11 have been with the solo lead. And in those tournaments, Spieth has pulled out the win eight times, lost in a playoff twice and was T-2 the other time. That is more good news for Spieth supporters.
One last bit of financial trivia: If Spieth does win, his career earnings at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am would jump to $3.65 million (he won here in 2017 when he held the outright lead entering the final round), lifting him to third most in tournament history behind Phil Mickelson ($7.8 million) and Dustin Johnson ($4.5 million).
The overall prize money payout this week is $7.8 million with the winner earning $1.404 million. Here’s the prize money payout for every golfer who made the cut this week. Come back shortly after the tournament is over and we’ll update this with the names of individual players and how much they made.