A DREAM COME TRUE
southport — The start was not what anyone expected out of Jordan Spieth. All that mattered to him was how he finished the British Open.
And that might have been the biggest surprise of all.
The record will show that Spieth took a three-shot lead into the final round at Royal Birkdale, closed with a 1-under 69 and won by three shots over Matt Kuchar, giving him the third leg of the career Grand Slam. “Seventeen pars and a birdie would have been fine, too,” Spieth said, the silver claret jug at his side. “But there’s a lot of roads to get there.”
The road less travelled? This was more like blazing a new trail. Seve Ballesteros won the 1979 British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes by making birdie from the parking lot. Spieth was spared at Royal Birkdale by making a bogey from the driving range when he was expecting no better than a double bogey.
Henrik Stenson finished with four birdies over the last five holes at Royal Troon last year to pull away from Phil Mickelson in one of golf’s greatest duels. Trailing for the first time all weekend, Spieth went birdie-eagle-birdiebirdie to overcome his own doubts and win his third major just four days before he turns 24.
“He’s a fighter. He’s shown that the whole way through his short career,” Rory McIlroy said. “He can dig himself out of these holes. He’s an absolute star.”
Spieth headed back home to Texas with golf ’s oldest trophy, and the first drink to be poured must surely be some magic elixir. How else to explain how he pulled this one off ?
“It was certainly a show that he put on,” Kuchar said.
Kuchar shot 69 and didn’t make a mistake until it no longer mattered. Imagine having a oneshot lead, going par-birdie-par-birdie, and being two shots behind. “I can only control what I do, how I play,” Kuchar said. “Jordan is a great champion and certainly played that way in the finishing stretch.”
Next up is to see if Spieth can finish off the slam.
He joined Jack Nicklaus as the only players to get the third leg of the career Grand Slam at age 23. Spieth now goes to the PGA Championship next week in North Carolina with a chance to be the youngest to win them all.
“This is a dream come true for me,” Spieth said. “Absolutely a dream come true.”
That’s about what it looked like over the final, wild hour. A dream. — AP