For much of his career, Jordan Spieth has been defined by dramatic highs. However, he also had to deal with equally painful setbacks on golf’s biggest stages. But whenever the weight of those disappointments tried to bring him down, the American golfer often turned to a grounding presence in his life, his younger sister Ellie. 

“My sister is seven years younger than me and she’s always been mine and my brother’s biggest fan of everything we’re doing. She has special needs. She knows if you win, but she doesn’t really care more than if you don’t win. It’s just another day that she’s out there supporting,” Spieth said in a recently released YouTube chronicle by The R&A.

He added, “It puts things in perspective when you’re on the highest of highs or when you’re in the lowest of lows. Neither one really makes that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, and you’re able to see that. It’s all the highest of highs with her, which is very cool.”

Spieth has experienced the emotional extremes that come with competing at the highest level. Among those moments that still linger in his mind is a costly decision late in The Open Championship, where a conservative approach on the 17th hole left him frustrated with his own mentality.

Looking back, Spieth admitted, “At this point, I know that I can go par-par to win The Open Championship on 17 and 18. So it became very real for me at that point. I have a couple regrets. I have a couple shots that I’d love to take back in my professional career, and one of them is the tee ball on 17. After that birdie, I just kind of backed off a little and thought as long as I just get through this hole, I’m good on 18. I took the left fairway line instead of taking the aggressive line that allows the hole to be shorter. I took the safer route thinking I could make par, but it left a nearly impossible shot to hit the green with the second.”

And during such moments, it is his seven-year-younger sister who has helped him to stay strong. Ellie Spieth was born as a premature baby with a neurological disorder and is on the autism spectrum. Despite all that, her presence has instilled a sense of humility and maturity within the golfer. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that she has shaped the golfing world in a way.

Speaking about his sister, whom he calls ‘the best thing that ever happened,’ Spieth said back in 2016, “With Ellie and how we grew up with her and her struggles and her triumphs, I think it just put life a little more in perspective than maybe it would have had we not experienced it.”

He further added, “My parents are such great parents I don’t think it would have changed much, but we were able to see first hand what someone who struggles like that is like and it certainly took over our family. So maybe that’s what helps keep me ‘normal.’ I don’t know what the alternative is when everyone says maturity and grounded.”

Furthermore, Jordan Spieth started his charitable mission, supporting programs and initiatives for children with special needs, primarily because of his younger sister. 

How Spieth’s sister helped build his charity legacy

When September of 2013 came around, Jordan Spieth was on course to have one of the best rookie seasons in PGA Tour history. As the first teenager to win on the PGA Tour in 82 years, he had also been chosen for the Presidents Cup. By the end of the season, the freshly crowned Rookie of the Year was already ranked 22nd in the world.

For most people, trying to manage the chaos of such a meteoric rise would be more than exhausting. However, at just 19 years of age, Spieth was already taking steps to start a legacy of charitable giving. Less than a year later, he built a foundation to raise money and awareness for four key “pillars“:  junior golf, military veterans, pediatric cancer, and children with special needs.

“Once I had a platform that I knew could not only help raise funds but also awareness, it made sense,” Spieth said in 2022

“What I’m most proud of, it’s not really necessarily the dollars, it’s more the amount of different programs we’ve been able to impact.”

Now, it’s understandable why Ellie came to his mind readily after he won his first major, the Masters, in 2015, becoming the second-youngest winner at Augusta after Tiger Woods.