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At the end of 2014, Jordan Spieth traveled to Australia to play in the Australian Open. It was a curious move for the one-time PGA Tour winner that turned out to be a launching pad for one of the great seasons in American golf history in 2015. Spieth won Down Under and ending up winning the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open.

Now we might have a repeat on our hands because Spieth took the 2016 Australian Open in a playoff over Cameron Smith and Ash Hall. Speith shot a 3-under 69 on Sunday to get into the playoff before making birdie on the first playoff hole for the win. His scores for the week were 69, 70, 68 and 69. His consistency shined on a week when low numbers were available.

In the final round, it was a birdie on No. 16 (a long one) that got him hunting at 12 under. Spieth played in the penultimate group and third-round leader Geoff Ogilvy faltered late with a double-bogey at the same 16th Spieth birdied.

Then par saves at Nos. 17 and 18 propelled Spieth into the playoff. It was vintage Spieth (if a 23-year-old can do something "vintage"). It was not pretty, but it was effective. And he held a trophy at the end of the day.

We are used to seeing Spieth save himself with his flat stick. On Sunday, that's what he did. by securing the trophy with a decent-sized birdie putt on the first playoff hole.

"It's been kind of something that, it's very difficult to do," Spieth told ESPN of managing his emotions at the end. "I mean you can't practice for being very nervous; you can't get on the range and say, 'okay, get nervous' -- it doesn't work that way.

"It just comes through experience and it just seemed that my tendencies were always to get underneath the ball and miss it right. And so I just committed to my swings the last couple of times today, in that playoff, and that is tough to do when the left's trouble because you think you're going to hit it left - it's uncomfortable. But they went right on line."

Spieth was straightforward and cold-blooded in the playoff. Drive, iron, 15 feet and boom, it's over. He ended the festivities with the efficiency of someone who has done this many times before (which he has).

"I had a chance last year on 18 and didn't hit a great putt," Spieth told reporters after his round. "This time I had that same chance with a very similar putt in the playoff and capitalized, so drew back a little on that and said 'this is our time to close this one out.'

"The way we played the playoff, I think it's going to do wonders for me. I've been in a bit of a stall hitting the shots when they mattered. To hit those two shots in there right where I wanted to hit them and then to make the putt with it, is really big going forward and it's something I can draw on all next year.''

Ah, next year. It should be a great one. Spieth remains formidable (despite reports to the contrary). Rory McIlroy is at the top of his game. Jason Day is still No. 1 in the world. Dustin Johnson is coming off his best season. If 2016 was just an appetizer for what we're going to get from this crop of superstars, I can't wait to see what 2017 has in store.

For Spieth, it could be a repeat of 2015. He's off to a similar start.