If you are a fan of Jordan Spieth, his mother has a lot to do with it

Many fathers have already spread a lot of ink in the roles they play in helping raise PGA Tour professional sons. But what is the player’s mother? What wisdom does the mother provide to her son on the eve of a key tournament? What little truth did she feed her breakfast and afternoon snacks in nearly two decades of his care? This is its core, what exactly is the mother of PGA Tour Pro? We asked three of them. In the first part of our three-part Mother’s Day series, Chris, the mother of Jordan Spieth, shares her story. Return on Saturday and Sunday Part II and III.

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Chris Spieth is the mother of a three-time major champion – remembering an animation that my sister discovered a few years ago.

It depicts an old woman walking on the road, with her shoulders bent over and holding sugar cane in her hands. But on the wall behind her, the shadow of the woman was dancing.

“My sister and I agreed,” Chris said. “That’s our mom.”

Chris was born in Ginny and Bob Julius, a large Pennsylvania family. When Ginny was 31 years old and pregnant with her sixth child, she suffered from an aneurysm that permanently paralyzed on one side of her body. Chris was 4 years old at the time.

“My mom raised six kids with half of her body,” Chris said. “She would fold clothes with her teeth and one hand, but she never saw that she was disabled. She never complained. My mom was a saint.”

Chris’s father is also commendable, and he cared for his wife and children for the following decades.

“I’ll take my kids to parents in North Carolina for the summer vacation,” Chris said. “When we were there, they exploded with cousins, they grew up watching grandmother’s struggle. I wanted to see how my dad took care of my mom and could help Jordan and Steven become better husbands and dads on their own.”

That would be Jordan, just like in the 13th PGA Tour of the über-Popular; Steven, like Jordan’s younger brother, briefly played professional basketball in Europe and then worked in sales in the golf real estate business.

“Everything will be solved”

Chris Spieth played basketball and earned a degree in computer science at Movarian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in an era when women were not common. In 1988, she moved to Dallas with her husband Shawn, where she worked as a network analyst at Neiman Marcus. Soon after, the couple had their first son, Jordan. Chris continues to work because she thinks it is important for her children to see their salary.

During those little years, Jordan and Steven participated in all the traditional Texas sports – basketball, soccer, baseball – often wearing coach jerseys with their dad.

“My husband would take them to the driving range between other sports seasons,” Chris said. “At that time, we didn’t have club membership.” Eventually, Spieths joined Brookhaven, a family-friendly country club that allows kids to play. “I haven’t played golf until today,” Chris said. “My husband tried.”

A few years later, Spieths had a daughter, Ellie, who was born in special needs. Chris quit his job and never went back. Ellie had a profound impact on the brothers’ lives, but the path wasn’t always easy. Looking back, if Chris could tell her young self one thing, it was this: Everything will be solved.

“I wouldn’t have listened 20 years ago,” she said. “But I’ve lived long enough now to see that it’s true: Everyone ends up getting where they should be. Everything will be solved.”

She stopped.

“My mom always says that.”

‘We let him decide’

In his early years, Jordan did not play golf. But as he gets older, his serving time accumulates. So, his trophy is the same.

“If it wasn’t the first place, it would go into the attic,” she said. “When his friends came over, there was no trophy in his room. It was middle school and kids would laugh at him for lack of social activities to play golf. So he covered up his talent in those years.”

In the seventh grade of Jordan, his parents noticed the change. Birthday parties, school celebrations, and even his precious posts on the competitive Dallas baseball team were behind golf.

“We took the opportunity and made him decide to give up the pitchers and first basemen of the team he really liked,” Chris said. “We told ourselves, ‘If golf doesn’t work out, he can always go back to baseball.'” She and Shawn grew up, making their own decisions and living with the results. They are committed to raising their children within the same paradigm.

Of course, golf does exercise for Jordan. But, if not, Chris would still support this parenting philosophy. “It’s OK for kids to be disappointed,” she said. “We had other parents asking us how we made Jordan miss his eighth grade home for the Ping Invitational, and we guessed ourselves for the second time. But we wanted our kids to learn from their decisions. So when he wanted to leave baseball, we wanted to talk to him. When he wanted to talk to him. When he missed his home, we made him choose. We made him choose.

“We let him decide and then leave it behind.”

‘go. Try it. Do’

Once Spieth Boys arrived in high school, their parents encouraged them to work hard to enter their dreams, which was once again affected by Chris’ own growth. She recalled her high school bike ride with her father Bob. “You rarely let dad himself when you’re one of six kids,” she said. “The conversation has had an impact on me.”

When her father pushed all of his children to get a college education, he put it in personalization: “Chris, you need an education. You may not use it, but you do not lose it.” College education is a priority for the Chris family, but they support dreams of any kind.

Chris and Shawn embrace Bob’s message, which guides them in how to encourage their boys as adults. When Steven considered taking college basketball to the next level, there was only one response: “Go. Try. Do. Do. You always regret not trying.”

When Jordan’s mid-season at the University of Texas of Dexas, he was considering the timing of his journey to the PGA Tour, the same wisdom reverberated back and said, “Go. Try. Try it. Do it. You won’t regret achieving your dream.”

“I’m no big deal‘

Today, Chris spends a few days doing Pilates, babysitters, grandchildren, helping the Spieth Family Foundation of Jordan and caring for Ellie, who is not proud of the famous athletes who sometimes rub against each other.

“A while ago, Ellie had a phone call,” Chris said. “In golf games, sometimes we would come back with other golfers and their families. When this happens, Ellie would work in the room, taking selfies with Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and many other PGA golfers. She then sat down, showed us the photos, showed us those photos, and quickly deleted them.

Similarly, Ellie was signed with the signature Nowitzki Mavericks jersey. For many fans, such souvenirs will be priceless. Not so for Ellie. “She wears it like a T-shirt and runs all the time during the washing process,” Chris said. “She doesn’t care that the signature is wearing out. For her, it’s just another shirt. People are just people-all the same. When you see life through Ellie’s eyes, you see her reputation the way she is and you start to realize, ‘I’m no big deal.'”

That was one of the gifts Ellie gave to Jordan. His sister’s view of fame seemed to humble Jordan’s way of seeing himself. His brother learns through the foundation’s way of seeking help from other families with children with special needs. “Jordan knows how it feels to miss golf because his parents have to pay for the therapy,” Chris said. “He knows how to give up on what his sister needs.”

It’s hard to know for sure what makes the world’s best golfers truly elite, which gives them an advantage among other players with similar abilities, which allows them to fight with missed cuts, unwind droughts and self-doubt. Sometimes the answer is right in front of you. But their secrets are often hidden in the shadows on the wall.