Jordan Spieth

There are plenty of words with which one could describe Jordan Spieth.

But at the peak of his considerable powers, magnetic is probably the most fitting.

Few players have bewitched and bedazzled quite like the blonde kid from Texas when he burst onto the scene amid a flurry of birdies and a dozen trophies in a four-year period between 2013 and 2017.

Spieth's drives were long, irons crisp and he had a short-game that could make a statue giggle.

When he put his A-game on the table, very few could match him and it was always done with a pizzazz that made children head straight to the range pretending to be him.

Spieth’s chipping, especially under pressure, was always something to behold.

Give him a sand-wedge, an awkward lie and the prospect of a probable bogey and sit back to watch the magic happen.

Nobody turned problems into pars quite like Spieth.

A week before his 24th birthday, he won The 146th Open here at Royal Birkdale. It was his third major triumph to go alongside the Masters and US Open in 2015.

He had the sport at his feet but the years since have not been quite so kind.

A long-term wrist injury took a considerable toll, while a slight downturn in form and the emergence of players like Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele have pushed Spieth out of the limelight.

In the nine years since, he has won just two titles. In the preceding two-and-a-half years, he won 12.

Now injury free, he is working back towards the form of old. The form that will be hard to ever forget.

“Jordan Spieth, in my opinion, is the best golfer in the world,” Gary Player said, just last year.

Spieth insists his game is in good order. He just needs a spark.

And where better to find it than Royal Birkdale, the scene of perhaps his greatest triumph.

Spieth held a three-shot lead from Matt Kuchar ahead of the final round in 2017 but after a bogey on 13 – following a notorious wayward drive to the right rough – he was behind.

What happened next was the stuff of legend.

Spieth proceeded to birdie the par-three 14th, where he almost had a hole in one, holed a 40-foot at the 15th for eagle, birdied the 16th from 20 feet, and rolled in another putt for a birdie at the 17th. It was golf that belied what had gone beforehand.

Royal Birkdale has changed considerably in the years since and Spieth has too.

He married in 2018 and is now a father to three children. But the fire that fuelled that remarkable start to his career still burns bright.

“If you give up on reaching your ceiling, then I don't see a point in playing anymore,” he said on the eve of his 13th consecutive Open appearance.

“I'll always do everything I can to try to be the very best in the world because I know that I can be. I have been. It's nice to have the blueprint.

“I mentioned it this year, that if you are capable of leading in every [stats] category, then you are capable of doing great things

“Even in this season I've been able to lead in each of the different categories. It's not like it's been one thing.

“That's a super optimistic thing, because over the years when I've won in the last five years or so, there's been lagging categories. It's just putting it together.

“There are things I can do now that I can do significantly better than I could when I was No. 1 in the world.

“Therefore, there should be nothing to stop me in my own head to be able to search and believe that I can reach that again.

“I'm 32; I'm not 42. At 42 you'd really have to sacrifice a lot of things to try and do that. I don't feel like I have to.

“I feel like I have years that -- how old was Phil [Mickelson] when he won his first major? 34?

“There are plenty of examples where guys have played their best golf from there on.

“I'm always comparing myself a bit to myself at my best, but I am not trying to be the exact player.

“It’s more to remind myself that I can do it. I know my ceiling is where that level was, and so I'm going to strive for it with the type of player that I am now.”

Spieth’s record since winning The 146th Open is far from unimpressive.

In majors, he has seven top-10 finishes, including a runners-up finish to Collin Morikawa at Royal St George’s five years ago.

He always draws a crowd and has been placed in a marquee group with Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm for the first two rounds.

Spieth missed last week’s Scottish Open in order to get to Royal Birkdale early.

With a spectacular new par-3, a long par-5 and alterations to the world-famous 18th, there is much to learn.

But some things always remain the same.

“I really was looking forward to going to the 18th green again,” he said.

“Winning The Open was a significant highlight of my life.

“It's arguably the best tournament in the world and the greatest trophy in the world to attain.

“So on the list of goals, it was right up there at the top.

“Being on that green is where that happened, and I was really looking forward to getting back, walking back down 18 and reliving what it was like to walk the 18th hole at The Open.

“It is the most unique finishing walk in golf. To have those memories and be able to walk up there again was really special.”