Jordan Spieth needs to get used to being centre of attention

The first taste of Rory McIlroy versus Jordan Spieth turned out to be a bit of a damp squib at The Players’ Championship.

Jordan missed the cut by a few shots and in golfing terms, he was caught ‘ball-watching’.

Rory is a very intimidating player because he hits those booming drives straight down the fairway, which Jordan tried to copy.

Jordan is not a short hitter by any means but that is not the strength of his game. His style is to use good course management to get him round and then he is deadly on the greens.

But his game went out of sync on Thursday and he had to putt well just to avoid shooting 80. Sawgrass is a tricky course where keeping the ball on the fairway is so important, and Jordan made that mistake.

However, it’s probably a good time to remember that he is still only 21 and will have the occasional bad event.

He looked so mature when he won The Masters last month, but he wasn’t that same player this week.

There is only four years difference in age between him and Rory, but at this stage of their careers, that is a lot of experience.

Rory has four Major wins under his belt and has played with all the other big names. And he’s had all that extra time getting used to being the centre of attention and he enjoys the limelight.

Jordan has just had his first taste and he has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride since he won at Augusta.

He’ll slowly understand what is best for his game because now TV, sponsors and the Press will want a piece of him wherever he plays, and so all those commitments will have to be built into his playing and practice schedule.

We’re looking forward to this rivalry developing in the short and the long term, but Jordan will have learned a big lesson.

He has to get the top his own way and the way that Gary Player did. In his heyday, Gary couldn’t compete with Jack Nicklaus’ length off the tee, and he had to use his own strengths.

Jordan has to be clever and realise that he can beat Rory by playing his game, just like he did to win at Augusta last month.

It’s exciting to have a potential rivalry between two players with contrasting styles and it won’t be long before they are paired together again.

And if Jordan’s going to be the fantastic player we all expect, he will come back strongly from this minor blip.