Jordan Spieth: Is He the Next Dominant Player to Watch on the PGA Tour?

When we think of dominant play in golf, we think of Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open by 15 strokes in 2000 or winning The Masters by 12 shots in 1997. It's unusual for anyone to win a golf tournament by that large a margin.    

So when Jordan Spieth won the Hero World Challenge by 10, it was attention-getting. He was double digits ahead of the next guy, who happened to be Henrik Stenson. Stenson won the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai in 2013. In addition, there were many former major champs in the limited field.

In his final round of 66, Spieth went with the momentum he created right from the start.  

"I made a birdie on 1, which was really big. Just get a putt going in. Hit three great shots there to start the round. I told Mike, Let's get three more and we can't be caught. That was the thing for the day," he said about his final round at the Hero World Challenge.

"By No. 7, that eagle went in and I had gotten to 5‑under, and from there I knew that if I just continued to do what I was doing that we would get the job done."

He kept setting goals during the round.

"I wanted to get to 30. I thought that would be a cool number that I've never even sniffed," he added. "It was great to come back and get two birdies on the last four holes, to see a couple putts go in and close out this tournament. It was a really fun walk on that back nine."

He did not get to 30 on either nine. It was 31-35 and included a double bogey on the back nine. But a 10-shot victory is enough for a two-eyebrow raise. Even he was amazed.

"This was the best that I've ever played, which is what I said in a media center in Sydney last week. I played better this week," he remarked.

The only down side of the victory margin in Orlando is that the field was just 18 players, not 100 or 120 or 144 or 156.  However, full-field victories with double-digit margins are few and far between since the beginning of competitive golf.

If we compare Spieth's result to winning margins in the history of the sport, it's a little easier to understand how rare this kind of achievement really is. So far as record books show, there are fewer than 20 players who have double-digit victory margins in professional golf.

Most people would say that Tiger Woods has the biggest margin, but they would be wrong. You can probably win bets in bars with that fact.

Nobody but a real golf geek will be able to tell you that the leading margin is 16 and belongs to four men:

• J.D. Edgar, 1919 Canadian Open
• Joe Kirkwood Sr., 1924 Corpus Christi Open
• Sam Snead, 1936 West Virginia Closed Pro
• Bobby Locke, 1948 Chicago Victory National Championship

Then it's Woods alone with the 15-stroke victory at The Masters.

That's followed by a trio who finished 14 ahead of the field:

• Gene Sarazen, 1935 Massachusetts Open
• Ben Hogan, 1945 Portland Invitational
• Johnny Miller, 1975 Phoenix Open

At lucky 13, you'll find Old Tom Morris in the 1862 British Open, Phil Mickelson in the 2006 Bellsouth Classic, Gene Littler in the 1955 Tournament of Champions and Byron Nelson in the 1945 Seattle Open.

Then at 12, it's Woods at The Masters in 2000, Jose Maria Olazabal at the 1990 NEC World Series of Golf, Arnold Palmer in the 1962 Phoenix Open and Byron Nelson in the 1939 Phoenix Open.

There are at least four other victories with double-digit margins mentioned in PGA Tour records or from other sources. Because record keeping is never quite what it should be, there's a chance another person had a double-digit win, and it was eclipsed by what Tiger did that year.

However, sources say there are two with 11-stoke margins: Tiger Woods in the 2003 Bay Hill Invitational and Willie Smith in the 1899 U.S. Open.

Finally, there are two with a 10-shot advantage: Brian Gay at the 2009 Verizon Heritage and now Jordan Spieth at the Hero World Challenge, a PGA Tour-sanctioned event, not quite the same as a PGA Tour event.  

With just under 20 men in the history of the sport showing such impressive victories, it's obvious that Spieth has given notice he's here to stay and here to win. He plays hungry and has already stated goals for the upcoming season and beyond.

"In order to take it to the next level and try and win majors, I got to look to Rory. He's the youngest guy, the one with the most success. He's No. 1 in the world and setting the bar. He's the one we're all chasing," Spieth explained, adding that the victory in Australia and at the Hero World Challenge were good steps for him.

"That's only really the beginning of what needs to happen for the ultimate goal, which is to overtake him."

With Speith's end-of-year performance, you have to say that he is likely to be a contender more times than not when he tees it up in 2015. His 10-shot margin of victory at such a young age puts him into the category of being a potentially dominant player in the years ahead.

Yes, he will still have to prove himself in PGA Tour victories and by winning majors, but he has shown the potential to dominate with his win at the Hero World Challenge.    

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the PGA Tour, USGA, R&A or PGA of America.