Late birdie blitz lifts Spieth to maiden crown at Birkdale
TURNAROUND Beats fellow American Matt Kuchar by three shots to win British Open for third major
Jordan Spieth survived a rollercoaster final round at the British Open to emerge with his third major title, beating fellow American Matt Kuchar by three strokes in a thrilling duel at Royal Birkdale on Sunday. Spieth carded a one-under-par round of 69 to finish on 12-under for the tournament but, after three days of consistent golf by the American, it was a remarkable day of highs and lows for the 23-year-old.
The Texan began the day with a three-stroke lead but saw that evaporate on the front nine, where he made four bogeys and a birdie to enter the turn sharing the lead with Kuchar on eightunder.
The drama began when Spieth drove wildly into the dunes on the 13th hole.
He was forced to take a penalty stroke after deeming the ball ‘unplayable’ and after some confusion and a lengthy series of deliberations, he played his second shot from the edge of the practice range next to the television trucks.
Spieth scrambled to make a creditable bogey out of the parfour hole but that still handed the lead to Kuchar, who was playing the more solid golf as the wind rose and temperature fell.
However, the sight of his rival alone at the top of the leaderboard appeared to click a switch in Spieth who responded with a birdie on the par-three 14th, where he was close to a hole-inone.
Spieth then brilliantly sank a 45-yard putt to eagle the par-five 15th and followed that with two
more birdies on the 16th and 17th.
Spieth, who won the U.S Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, has joined Jack Nicklaus to become one of only two players to win three legs of the career grand slam before turning 24. Tiger Woods was 24 when he won his third different major.
China’s Li Haotong soared up the British Open leaderboard with a superb last-round 63 on Sunday and at one stage looked to have a chance of becoming the second Asian man to win a major title. When leader Jordan Spieth dropped three shots early in his round, Li was only two behind but the American fought back to win the title and the 21-year-old world number 107 ended up third, three strokes behind runner-up Matt Kuchar.
A day after South African Branden Grace fired the first 62 in a men’s major championship, Li picked up seven birdies, including one at each of the last four holes, in a flawless round at Royal Birkdale.
“It’s kind of a dream come true. For some reason since hole No. 8 I just start holing everything,” Li told reporters. “It is unbelievable actually.”
Li played the final round with South African Ernie Els and the twice British Open champion was impressed.
“He was playing good and making putts. He had a nice attitude and I could see he wasn’t backing off,” Els told reporters.
“You see some guys get a little bit scared but he kept going. So it was really special to see.”
Li has one European Tour victory, at the 2016 China Open, and qualified for Birkdale by finishing in the top 30 in last year’s Race to Dubai rankings. Having won bronze at last year’s Rio Paralympics, Varun Singh Bhati -- a 22-yearold polio-struck high jumper --- clinched bronze in high jump in the T42 category at the World Para Athletics Championships in London with a jump of 1.77m. Another Indian, Sharad Kumar, jumped 1.84m to