When Jordan Spieth blew his three-shot lead in the first four holes of the final round last night, memories of his meltdown at last year’s Masters flooded back.
Spieth’s meltdown at Augusta gift-wrapped the green jacket to Danny Willett.
Like Arnold Palmer did to Billy Casper in the 1966 US Open, like Greg Norman did to Nick Faldo in the 1996 Masters, or Jean van der Velde to Paul Lawrie in the 1999 Open – all bizarre memories.
But Spieth wasn’t going to have a bar of melting down, duelling head-to-head with compatriot Matt Kuchar as they turned for home level at eight under.
What happened on the homeward nine is sill hard to believe.
At the 13th, Spieth hooked his drive so far left he was in another suburb. Between his ball and the green was some 250 yards over a tall hill, making it a blind shot.
Spieth had to take a penalty for an unplayable, took his ball back to the practice fairway, looking at a double or triple bogey with Kuchar on the green, waiting for 25 minutes while the Spieth drama unfolded.
To cut a long story short, Spieth carded a miracle bogey on 13, a birdie and almost an ace on 14, an eagle on 15, a birdie on 16 and another on 17 to win by three.
Bizarre alright, but also brilliant with five-under in four successive holes under extreme pressure.
You had to feel sorry for the ever smiling Kuchar. He’d done nothing wrong, he’d played superbly, but was still stitched by three in the run to the finishing line.
It looked as though Kuchar would become the eighth first-time major winner in a row after Jason Day (2015 PGA), Danny Willett (2016 Masters), Dustin Johnson (2016 US Open), Jimmy Walker (2016 PGA), Sergio Garcia (2017 Masters), and Brooks Koepka (2017 US Open).
But it was not to be.
So Jordan Spieth has his third major in just 19 starts, second only to the greatest golfer of all time, Jack Nicklaus, who took just 16 majors to record his first three wins.
That’s elite company for the popular Spieth.
While Spieth won the tournament and the coveted claret jug, Hao Hang Li took out the final day’s honours with a career-high 63 just a day after Brenden Grace set a new majors low score record of 62.
In Li’s case, he had just three birdies in the first 14 holes, but birdied 15, 16, 17, and 18 for his 63 that catapulted him 26 spots up the leaderboard to sole third – superb golf.
While Spieth and Kuchar were having a ding dong battle, possible contenders like Brooks Koepka, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, and Rory McIlroy couldn’t bridge the gap.
It’s good for Australian golf that Marc Leishman enjoyed a 66 65 weekend to finish equal sixth and earn an invite to next year’s Open.
Finals scores The Open Championship
Par 70
12-under – Jordan Spieth 65 69 65 69.
9-under – Matt Kuchar 65 71 66 69.
6-under – Hao Hang Li 69 73 69 63.
5-under – Rory McIlroy 71 68 69 67, Rafa Cabrera Bello 67 73 67 68.
4-under – Marc Leishman 69 76 66 65, Brenden Grace 70 74 62 70, Matthew Southgate 72 72 67 64, Alex Noren 68 72 69 67, Brookes Koepka 65 72 68 71.
Best of the Australians
4-under – Marc Leishman 69 76 66 65.
Even – Adam Scott 69 74 70 67.
1-over – Jason Day 69 76 65 71, Aaron Baddeley 69 70 72 64.
3-over – Andrew Dodt 69 75 69 70.
4-over – Scott Hend 71 74 66 74.
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