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NERVES OF STEEL : SPIETH WINS THIRD MAJOR DESPITE 13TH HOLE JITTERS

Superstar emulates Nicklaus, winning a different Major before the age of 24.

Southport

Jordan Spieth yesterday survived a roller-coaster final round at the Open Championship to emerge with his third Major title, beating fellow American Matt Kuchar by three strokes in a thrilling duel at Royal Birkdale.

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 eight-under.

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-in-one. 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 US Masters and US 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. “It could have gone to either one of us but I got the good breaks,” admitted Spieth, who celebrates his 24th birthday next Thursday and is the youngest Open champion since a 22-year-old Seve Ballesteros won at Royal Lytham and St Annes in 1979.

Picture: AFP IN THE THICK OF THINGS. Jordan Spieth of the United States discusses his options with a rules official after taking a penalty drop for having an unplayable lie on the 13th hole during the final round of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale yesterday.