This is a Jordan Spieth story.
And a fan story.
And an altruistic story.
And an aw-shucks story.
And a charismatic story.
But, at his core, a sandwich story. So let’s start there, with food. They’re playing the FedEx St. Jude Championship this week at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, and it’s hot. A drink-your-fluids, stay-energized hot. Right, Lucas Glover? On Friday, during the second round, he was playing with Tommy Fleetwood, and it was a burner.
“Is it ever a struggle out there to focus? Do you worry about Tommy at all?”
“I told him on the 12th tee, I said, I know you don’t like to, but I need you to drink some water today for me,” Glover said. “Then walking off the 2nd tee, I go, you still sweating? He goes, yeah, why? I said, just making sure. He goes, you don’t have to worry about me. I said, well, I kind of do, and I’m going to.
“Yeah, I kept up with him, but I had some amino acids on the turn and gave him a pack, and I drank at least a bottle a hole of something, and going to be a lot more of that this evening.”
But what of the paying public? TPC Southwind kindly offers water-filling stations on its grounds, but a bite will cost ya.
Unless you know a guy.
Let’s talk with Spieth now. A three-time major winner, he also has a bit of the every-golfer in him. There he was Saturday, in disbelief over a missed putt by playing partner Sungjae Im. There he always is, coaxing his ball to go, go go, or to sit, sit, sit. There he was Saturday with a water bottle and a sandwich on the 16th tee. On Friday, he said he needed them.
“I drank a ton of my LivPur hydration packets,” Spieth said. [Yes, yes, a sponsor nod never hurts.] “I think you can’t overdo it.
“Yeah, I was trying to force it down. I tried to force down food, too. Just got to do anything to continue to have energy.”
And there he was Saturday unwrapping a sandwich from a baggie on 16. On Tuesday, fellow pro Jon Rahm revealed his wife, Kelley, packs his.
What follows on 16 was wonderfully captured by Jason Sobel of the Action Network.
“Having a little snack?” a fan said.
“Want half?” Spieth replied.
“It’s peanut butter and banana.”
What follows here was wonderfully captured by user gjb825 on Reddit and first shared Sunday by Sports Illustrated.
Spieth walked down the slope to the left of the 16th tee. He started to peel off a part of his meal.
“Yeah, thank you so much,” a fan said. “The food here is like 10 dollars for a cheeseburger.”
“I thought it was 14,” another fan was overheard saying.
Spieth handed the fan a piece.
The fan thanked him. Spieth walked away. The fan’s buddies laughed and slapped him on the shoulder as he smiled.
Who knew you could pack so much in between two slices of bread?
Who knew a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich could be so filling?
