McIlroy: Time is still on my side
lost my lead, I felt my nerves go away.’ Spieth, 24 next week, can become the sixth golfer, and the youngest, to complete the Grand Slam if he wins the USPGA next month. While McIlroy got closer to a fifth major than at any time since his last win in 2014, he still felt the pain of ‘a lost opportunity.’ ‘I feel like three years [without a major] has been too long. But at the same time, I’m not going to rush it, I’m not going to stay impatient. I’m going to play my game and hopefully my chance arrives at some point and I’m able to take it,’ he said. ‘You look at Jack Nicklaus, he went through a stretch where he didn’t win a major in three years. I’m not comparing myself to Jack but it’s hard to win them, it’s very hard. In this generation, excluding Tiger [Woods], no one’s got above five. ‘We have a 20 to 30-year window where we can [win] and I got off to a great start in my career. But, as I said, I’ve still got 15, 20 more years to add to that tally.’ McIlroy felt it would be ‘fun’ to watch Spieth come down the stretch. With a stunning birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-par finale, it certainly was. Even runner-up Kuchar felt something special had unfolded. ‘It was fun to be in the arena,’ he said.
RORY McILROY hailed Jordan Spieth as ‘an absolute stud’ after the 23year-old Texan became the youngest golfer to win three different majors with a late birdie blitz at Birkdale yesterday. ‘Jordan’s a fighter. He’s shown that the whole way through his short career. He can dig himself out of holes. It’s great for the game that he’s done it,’ said a gracious McIlroy, who tied fourth after a closing 67. Spieth covered the final five holes in five-under-par to gun down Matt Kuchar and become the youngest Open champion since Seve Ballesteros in 1979. He also followed Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson and Mark O’Meara as American winners of The Open at Birkdale. ‘Today took as much out of me as any day in golf and I took a lot of roads to finally get there. I don’t know why I can’t make it easier sometimes,’ grinned the new champion. Spieth eventually won by three shots on 12-underpar after surviving a rickety start and escaping with a bogey five on the 13th, where he took a penalty drop in the practice ground — almost a hundred yards off line. ‘The wheels had come off and it took that bogey to get them on again as once I