It couldn’t have worked out any better for North Texas golf fans. In the final pairing today at the Dean and DeLuca Invitational, Dallas native and Texas Longhorn Jordan Spieth (-12) will tee off against Ryan Palmer (-11), an Aggie, Colonial member, and Fort Worth favorite.
Spieth, who has played a lot of golf with Palmer as friends, tried to downplay the drama last night. “Let’s not create any rivalries,” he said. “Let’s not create anything that shouldn’t be there. It’s not just us.”
That’s especially true at the Colonial; each of the past seven winners have come from behind to win.
The D-FW Rivalry also extends to the two PGA Tour events held in North Texas each year. There are many differences between the AT&T Byron Nelson, held last week at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas, and the Dean and DeLuca Invitational, underway at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.
Because it’s an invitational, the Colonial attracts a better field of golfers. As such, it draws more hardcore golf fans (and fewer girls in short shorts and high heels). And at the Colonial, there are no houses that line the course, so no wild house parties, and no pavilion—the after-party circuit in Fort Worth is much less raucous.
The historic Colonial Country Club, built along the south bank of the Clear Fork of the Trinity River, is 80 years old. It hosted the U.S. open in 1941, and its first Colonial golf tournament a few years later. It’s known for being especially kind to the late great Ben Hogan, a Fort Worth resident who won the tournament five times.
This year, there have been some grumblings from longtime attendees of the event, complaining about rookie sponsor Dean and DeLuca—and “Colonial” being stripped from the tournament’s name.
The course, though, is immaculate. I haven’t seen greens as perfect as these in a long time.
If Spieth prevails, it will be his first tournament win in Texas. And with a victory, he’d pass Tiger Woods as the player with the second-most wins before his 23rd birthday. He’ll have to get past Palmer and Webb Simpson, who also stood at 11-under after yesterday’s play.
Fort Worth’s Martin Piller also is doing well; at one point he was tied for the lead on Saturday. It’s his first time playing in this PGA Tour event. Bryce Molder, my buddy from last week, had the lead going into yesterday’s play, but had a bogey on 16 and 18. He’s still in the hunt, at 7-under.
Photos by Jennifer Thorsen, a sports and travel photographer based in Dallas.
