Why Golf Needs Jordan Spieth

There is no better place to write a new chapter in golf’s rich history than the windswept links of St. Andrews, Scotland, the game’s ancestral home. On July 16, Jordan Spieth, a mild-mannered 21-year-old Texan, will get his chance when he tees off at the British Open. He comes into the tournament having won this year’s Masters and U.S. Open–the first time a player has won them back-to-back in 13 years. And he is the second youngest player to have won two major tournaments (see chart below). Should Spieth manage to beat the other 150-plus golfers on the rugged St. Andrews course, he would become the only person to win all three in a year besides Ben Hogan, in 1953. No one has ever swept those majors and the PGA Championship to complete a modern Grand Slam. “What he’s doing,” says Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, a former PGA pro, “is one of the most amazing, unprecedented things in the history of golf.”

And boy, does golf need it. For years, Tiger Woods could be counted on to contend for championships and command record crowds. But it’s been almost six years since his personal life unraveled and took his game with it, and Woods’ decline appears irreversible. Spieth would seem an unlikely candidate to fill his void. His game lacks sizzle: he rarely wows the fans in the gallery with big bomb drives or thrills them by taking too many risky shots. Nor is he a towering athlete or flashy dresser. The baby-faced Dallas resident is simply dependable, accurate in the rough and on the greens, and unflappable. “He’s like a Taurus who blows the Ferraris away,” says Chamblee. “You just don’t see it coming.”

Consider him the anti-Tiger. Spieth projects humility and rare loyalty. Case in point: instead of tuning up for the British in the U.K., Spieth honored his commitment to play the John Deere Classic in tiny Silvis, Ill., July 9–12, which has one of the smallest purses of any PGA tournament. Spieth did consider skipping the John Deere, which he won in 2013 to become the youngest PGA Tour winner in 82 years. “It was a short conversation,” his father Shawn tells TIME. “He’s relaxed and enjoying the run. He knows this is a really, really unique opportunity.”

The game’s next legend has arrived. And he can barely buy a beer.