The magic, up close

ATLANTA, Ga. – Blake Kollin played football, basketball and lacrosse, but not golf, when Jordan Spieth won the 2015 Masters. That’s all changed now. “He made it look easy, so I just picked it up,� Kollin said before he started work Thursday. Kollin was one of two walking standard-bearers for the final pairing of Spieth and Justin Thomas in the first round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake. (Each shot 67 and was tied for sixth, three behind leader Kyle Stanley.) Skylar Thompson—she carried the sign on the front nine, Kollin on the back—also calls herself a Spieth fan. “He’s a really good role model,� she said. You may have heard there will be two more tournaments on the PGA TOUR next season, a total of 49 in the United States and eight other countries, and record prize money (more than $363 million). You’d have to say the view from 30,000 feet is a pretty good one. But what about the view from the ground? That’s not bad, either, to judge by the scene around Spieth-Thomas, the FedExCup Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on Thursday. High school seniors Kollin and Thompson wore khaki pants and forest-green polo shirts in temperatures that reached 91 degrees. They popped red numbers into and out of their sign as Spieth birdied three straight on the front nine and Thomas made four birdies and two bogeys on the back. After the 2015 Masters, Kollin gave up lacrosse, since its season coincided with golf. Then he dropped football and basketball, too. Now he plays No. 1 for the Cambridge High team in Milton, Georgia, with a career-low of 67. Yeah, he got good fast. Thompson, also a senior, matriculates at an online charter school and will attend South Carolina on a golf scholarship starting in the fall of 2018. Her career-low is 64, but her tournament-low is 69. She has been working as a standard-bearer at this tournament since she was 12, so this week marks the end of an era. “The sign was bigger than she was,� said Pete Sutter, longtime chairman of the standard-bearers at this tournament. “I was like, really? She said, ‘I can do it!’� “The sign wasn’t bigger than I was!� Thompson said with a laugh. “Oh, okay,� Sutter said. “It wasn’t bigger than she was.� Fans waited in the stands and media and officials ringed the first tee box. Spieth shook hands with Kollin and Thompson. “Hi, I’m Jordan,� he said. Kollin marveled at his proximity to a high-profile athlete, even as he eyed another. “That’s one of the Atlanta Hawks,� he said in a whisper. “That’s Kent Bazemore.� Bazemore, 28, was hard to miss as he followed the last twosome. A 6’5’’ shooting guard for the Hawks, he stopped and posed for selfies with fans. Like everyone else, he marveled at the shot-making of Spieth-Thomas, who at times played a game of can-you-top-this. Spieth, hitting first, knocked his approach shots to 6 ½ and 3 ½ feet at the seventh and eighth holes, respectively. Thomas responded, hitting his to 5 ½ and 4 feet. Four birdies. “I’ve had it bad for four years,� Bazemore said of the golf bug, which has seen him join nearby Hawks Ridge Golf Club and play golf with fellow NBA player Stephan Curry. (They are both sponsored by Under Armour, as is Spieth.) Bazemore had a feeling Curry would do well at the Web.com Tour’s Ellie Mae Classic in August. (Curry shot 74-74 to miss the cut, but impressed.) “I played with him the week before that, at Newport National in Rhode Island,� Bazemore said. “He’d just come back from Asia, and he shot 73 with rental clubs.� Ellie Spieth, not Ellie Mae, was the one in the sweet Under Armour shoes following her big brother Thursday. She was there along with her father, Shawn, and mother, Chris. Thomas’ parents, Mike and Jani, were also following along. The two families have been tight ever since Spieth and Thomas played in the Evian Junior Masters in France a decade ago. “He calls me Mamma,� Chris Spieth said of Justin Thomas. She laughed. You get the feeling Chris’ side of the family was the source of 6’ 6’’ Steven Spieth’s height. The younger brother of Jordan, Steven Spieth played basketball for Brown and the Dallas Mavericks summer league team, and now plays professionally overseas. While Jordan was working his way through a few wayward drives on the front nine, Chris and Shawn were watching and wondering if there is a way to live stream a basketball tournament in Argentina starting Friday. Perhaps they’ll use their phones. That was partly how Miles Young and Pete Shelton followed the first-round action. Dustin Johnson (68) nearly plunked Shelton with a wide-right drive at the fifth hole, but Shelton turned lemons into lemonade, capturing the action on his smart phone. “I like that you can take pictures,� said Young, whose 9-year-old son, Cole, was also tagging along. “I like that it’s low-key. You can see the players really close, and kids get in free. Cole likes the fist-bumps. He’s gotten autographs, golf balls, a flag signed by Brandt Snedeker. “We go out to the course at home, and half the time we’re fishing balls out of the lake, or riding the cart together, but this is the key to get him really excited. When you can get this close, and get a fist-bump from Jordan Spieth, it makes all the difference.� Shelton shook his head. “He’s a better dad than me; he took his son out of school.� (Shelton has three kids, among them a 13-year-old son who wanted to be at East Lake.) “Only for a few hours,� Young replied with a sheepish smile. Shelton would peel off before the last twosome finished the front nine, leaving East Lake to get to his 9-year-old daughter’s soccer practice in time. He’s the coach. Young and his son would follow suit; Cole’s soccer practice was scheduled to start an hour later. They’ll be back, as will Bazemore, the Spieths, and standard-bearers Kollin and Thompson. They’ll all be back. Three rounds remain, and Spieth and Thomas are only 24. There’s a lot of golf to be played.

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