Jordan Spieth could join an exclusive group of young winners

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s by no means certain, but if Jordan Spieth, age 20, was able to pull off the improbable and win the Masters on Sunday, he’d join an impressive club of young victors, champions who won their sport’s highest honors while still basically overgrown kids. Let’s run down some of the great young talent who made their marks early:

Youngest to win a Masters: Tiger Woods, 1997. He was 21 years old, and won by 12 strokes. Chances are Spieth won’t beat the second mark, but he very well could top the first.

Youngest to win Wimbledon: Boris Becker won the men’s singles championship in 1985 at age 17. Lottie Dod won the women’s singles in 1885 at age 15, as we all well remember.

Youngest to win the Daytona 500: Trevor Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500 at the tender age of 20 years and one day, becoming the first driver since the race’s beginnings to win Daytona in his first attempt.

Youngest Olympic gold medalist, individual event: Kusuo Kitamura of Japan won the 1,500-meter freestyle swimming event in 1932 at age 14. Four years later, Marjorie Gestring won the three-meter springboard event at age 13.

Youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl: Ben Roethlisberger led Pittsburgh to a 21-10 win over Seattle in 2006 at Super Bowl XL in his second season, at the age of 23.

Youngest goaltender to win the Stanley Cup: Patrick Roy won the NHL’s Conn Smythe playoff MVP and the Stanley Cup at age 20 in 1986, helping Montreal beat Calgary 4 games to 1.

Youngest MVP/Cy Young winner in baseball: Vida Blue of the Oakland A’s won both the MVP and the Cy Young in 1971; he turned 22 during the season.

So there you go. We’ll soon see if Mr. Speith has it in him to knock Tiger out of this club.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter.

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