ZACH ATTACK
Johnson claims British Open
Those hoping for history had to settle, instead, for one of the most riveting 72- hole, five- day Open Championship horse races ever at the place where golf was born. And then, a four- hole playoff. Jordan Spieth didn’t watch all of it; only the end when he emerged to shake the winner’s hand.
By then, with Zach Johnson prevailing in extra holes by a stroke over 2010 champ Louis Oosthuizen and by three over Aussie Marc Leishman, maybe the 21- year- old winner of the Masters and U. S. Open was mostly done ruing the premature end of his Grand Slam dream — by one silly shot, on a day when the guy he sees in the mirror while shaving every third day or so, one of the great putters in the game, four- jacked the eighth hole.
He was ruing the eight- foot par putt he couldn’t hole on the murderous 17th, and the two poor shots he hit at the 18th.
Make No. 8 a mere three- putt, chip it a little closer on 17, don’t pull the closing tee shot almost into touch on a mile- wide fairway and then push the pitch shot on the wrong line and spin it back into the Valley of Sin ...
A good many what- ifs will haunt him as he considers how close he came to taking three legs of the single- season Slam into the PGA at Whistling Straits next month with a chance to do what no professional golfer has ever done.
All of which shortchanges the winner, of course — and Johnson, the 39- year- old, straight- hitting Iowan, winner of the 2007 Masters, deserved better — but that’s life in the Year of Jordan.
Johnson came in as a 100- to- 1 longshot, which translates as “under the radar.”
“I guess that radar is going bonkers right now,” he said.
“I am honoured to be your champion,” he said in raising the Claret Jug. “Thank you very, very much.
“As a golfer, I’m going to relish this. I’m humbled by this. But I don’t want to make it more than it is. I don’t want this to define me or my career. It won’t be my legacy. That should be my kids, my family.”
Spieth’s legacy had a chance to be something else, though. Still does, but it may never happen again. He knew where he’d gone wrong, shooting 69 when he needed 68 to tie, 67 to win. He had chances.
“Just made a mental mistake on No. 8,” he said, and “who would have thought a drive on 18 was going to be what really hurt me at the end. It’s kind of hard to not hit a good one on that hole.”
The four- putt? He started by putting off the green from about 100 feet away.
“There’s absolutely no reason to hit that putt off the green. I can leave it eight feet short and have a dead straight eight- footer up the hill where I’ll make that the majority of the time,” he said. “My speed control was really what cost me this week.”
The chance to tie Ben Hogan as the only player to win the Masters, U. S. Open and Open Championship in the same year is gone with the calendar- year Grand Slam, but “I don’t know how many guys have done three majors in a year. I’m sure there’s only been a few. I know Tiger has done it, and I’m sure Jack has ( actually no). So that would be the next goal as far as the history goes.”
The winner, meanwhile, was not the Johnson who was seen as the major threat to stop Spieth’s Slam. Dustin was. But after leading at the 36- hole mark, he went deeply in the tank, shooting 75- 75 the final two rounds.
Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., also finished with 75 on Monday, giving him 1- under 287 over the four rounds, tied for 68th. The other Canadian in the field, David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., didn’t make the 36- hole cut.
Zach was 14 shots better than Dustin Johnson on Sunday and Monday, and needed them all to get to the playoff.
The lead, co- held after 54 holes by Oosthuizen, Jason Day and amateur Paul Dunne, who blew to a 78 Monday, was batted around like a pinata.
Five different players reached 15- under, but Adam Scott gave five shots back on the last five holes — shades of his collapse from the lead at Royal Lytham in 2012 — and Spieth, after holing a 70- foot monster for birdie at the 16th, couldn’t get up and down after leaking his approach shot short and right, against a sudden squall, on 17.
In fairness, 15 of the last 20 players at least bogeyed the Road Hole, but Leishman and Oosthuizen didn’t, which is why they were in the playoff and Spieth wasn’t. In fact, Oosthuizen played the last two in one- underpar, Spieth in one- over.
Leishman was the only player in the field to get to 16- under but a bogey at the 16th brought Johnson, who was already finished, back into the picture. Then Oosthuizen birdied 18 to join the fun.
Leishman didn’t really hit a single quality golf shot in the playoff. He was out of it, realistically, after the first hole, which he bogeyed against two birdies. Johnson took the lead with a birdie at the second, held off Oosthuizen at 17, where the South African got a perfect read off Leishman’s missed par putt, but ran his own four- footer past the low side, too.
He missed again, a downhill eight- footer for birdie at the 18th to give Johnson the Claret Jug with a mere par, for his 12th PGA Tour win and second major.
“I think I did really well getting in the playoff,” said Oosthuizen. “I made great putts coming in to be in the playoff, and you know, misread 17 and 18 ( the second time around).
“I think it was crucial today, the front nine you could see everyone was scoring on the front nine ( Johnson was five- under), and I was only 2- under, and that back nine was tough. When we made the turn on 12, St. Andrews showed its teeth.
“It’s never nice to lose a playoff. But I’ll take a lot out of this week. I was really motivated to win this championship. I love this place. I’ve said it a thousand times. I can’t wait for it to come back here again.”