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Spieth puts demons to rest

Jordan Spieth. (Photo: AP)
Roar Guru
30th May, 2016
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Jordan Spieth fired six birdies on the back nine on Sunday at the Colonial Golf Club to claim his first PGA tour, The Dean and Deluca Invitational, in his home state of Texas.

Following his embarrassing collapse at the Masters, giving up six shots on the back nine to finish tied second to eventual winner Danny Willett, Spieth produced a missed cut at the Players Championship. He uncharacteristically failed to put any pressure on the leaders last week in his hometown event the ATandT Bryson Nelson, finishing tied 18th, posting a four-over 74 in the final round.

Many experts felt that that the events at the Masters would play havoc on the young Texan’s mind, like fellow Golfer Greg Norman who was plagued by similar events of chocking and consequently extensive media ridicule and scrutiny.

The young phenom however put his demons to rest, firing an excellent 65, holding off young and established talent including ‘Georgia Bulldog’ Harris English, fellow ‘Texan’ Ryan Palmer and ‘Charlotte North Carolina’ resident Webb Simpson.

Spieth’s front nine was relatively benign, firing an even par opening nine of 35 on the Perry Maxwell designed course. Spieth put the foot on the accelerator on the back nine to close with a five under 30, to sign for an impressive 65, allowing him to claim his maiden title in the ‘Lone Star State.’

Spieth’s demonstrated his world class ability to consecutively birdie the tenth, eleventh and twelfth holes through systematic and well planned golf. However most impressive was the ‘Long Horns’ ability to close out the tournament, starting with his birdie on the par three sixteenth, hitting his tee shot from 181 yards to 20.4 feet and holing the subsequent putt.

Entering the seventieth hole with a one shot lead, Spieth was given a lucky break from the ‘golfing gods’ when he sprayed his tee shot into the left trees and received a lucky deflection, bouncing his ball back into the intermediate cut.

Subsequently Spieth hit his approach shot from 174 yards to the back fringe, leaving a difficult chip with little green to work with. With the pressure on and only possessing a slender one shot lead, Spieth stepped up and holed a miraculous chip from 35 feet, giving himself back to back birdies and a two shot lead entering the difficult par four eighteenth.

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Like he has done so many times, Spieth holed an impressive 34 foot putt to close with an impressive birdie on the par four eighteenth, defying the critics and putting the demons of the past behind him for now.

Putting to bed the constant scrutiny, Jordan Spieth addressed the media after his win, admitting at times it was difficult to “stay positive,” during the last month following his disastrous collapse at the 2016 Masters. Overall Spieth appeared to be relieved to finally put the questioning and doubts of his past performances behind him.

“In our (Team – Jordan Spieth, Caddie Michael Greller and Coach Cameron McCormick) third tournament back, to come back and close this one out the way we did is really, really special,” Spieth told the media conference after his win that granted him eight wins under the age of 22; Spieth overtakes Tiger Woods as the player with the most wins under 22 in the modern era.

Harris English also had a strong week, signing for a four under 66 to finish alone in second, moving him thirty spots from fifty six to twenty six in the Fed Ex Cup standings. English began his round with a superb eagle on the par five first hole, holing an approach shot from 83 yards to immediately gain two shots on the field.

A poor approach shot the par four ninth into the water and a poor tee shot on the par four twelfth, yields disappointing bogies, that eventually proved costly at the end of the week, as he was never able to apply any real pressure to Jordan Spieth.

Fellow golfers Webb Simpson, Ryan Palmer and Kyle Reifers all were in contention, however all fired rounds of minus two putting little pressure to Spieth resulting in missed chances to capitalise on a week were they all had a real chance.

This win reinstated Spieth’s confidence in his game and ability, priming him to be ready to defend his US Open title at the Oakland Country Club in Pennsylvania to be played next month in June.

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