Twenty-one-year-old Jordan Spieth won the prestigious Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga., Sunday, and family and friends of the Spieth family in the Hellertown area are celebrating.
Spieth’s parents–Shawn Spieth and Chris (Julius) Spieth–are both graduates of Saucon Valley High School, and a number of relatives still live in the Saucon Valley area, where the family’s connection to local sports runs deep.
Jordan’s maternal grandfather was one of the founders of the Greater Bethlehem Soccer League in 1968, his aunt Kathy Julius Muschlitz noted in a Facebook post; his mother played basketball for Moravian College; and his father played baseball for Lehigh University.
Spieth won the Masters and earned the coveted green jacket that winners wear by shooting 18 under par, which tied him with Tiger Woods for the best ever score.
He also had the most birdies in a single Masters tournament and was its first “wire-to-wire winner” since 1976, according to CBS Sports.
Spieth is the second youngest golfer to win the Masters, after Tiger Woods in 1997.
Immediately after his victory he was seen by a national television audience of millions embracing his parents, brother, girlfriend and grandfather.
His 14-year-old sister, Ellie, was watching from home in Dallas, according to the television announcers who narrated Spieth’s emotional victory lap.
Ellie was born with a neurological disorder that places her on the autism spectrum, according to a story published by ESPN, and he is known publicly for being very close to her as well as supportive of autism research via the Jordan Spieth Charitable Fund.
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