Talk about a baptism of fire. On the first morning of the 2014 Ryder Cup, Spieth and his partner Patrick Reed found themselves in a Scottish cauldron when they faced European talisman Ian Poulter and local hero Stephen Gallacher. It was a match that would have intimidated even the most grizzled of Ryder Cup competitors, so how would a 21-year-old rookie react? Simple. He took it in his stride and raised the stakes. “I don’t think you could have picked out two people that we want to play against more,” smiled Spieth. “Our match is very important. I feel like our job is to win a point and really lower their team morale.” Spieth and Reed humbled Poulter and Gallacher 5&4, before going on to beat Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer and half with Kaymer and Justin Rose on day two.

Sieger says: “If you want to be successful, you need to have great trust in your ability and Spieth definitely possesses this trait. No matter how pressure-filled the situation, he is confident that he can win. His Ryder Cup debut was a great example of this. He and Reed both truly believed they could win on golf’s biggest stage and this confidence enabled them to form a fantastic team that went out and did just that.”