Stroke of genius
How Jordan’s decision to take a drop miles away in practice ground and shot that followed won The Open
THERE’S a cruel beauty about the ability of sport – particularly golf – to turn glory into torment and back again in the blink of an eye.
Jordan Spieth could already testify to that from the moment in 2016 when his second Masters title drowned in the famous water of Rae’s Creek in the space of five manic minutes.
So when the world watched him standing up to his ankles in thick rough, craning his neck at the towering sand dune blocking his view of the Royal Birkdale’s 13th green, it must have seemed like a mountain to climb in every sense of the word.
But just when all those around him thought the 23-year-old American was losing his head – and the Open Championship title that seemed to be slipping through his grasp – Spieth clung on to his senses at the moment when he needed them most.
A lesser character would have crumbled already having seen the three-shot lead he’d carried into this final round evaporate before the turn. But by the unlucky 13th all looked lost when that wild tee shot into the thick stuff heralded scenes of utter chaos, bordering on farce. Yet amidst it all it soon became clear one man knew exactly what he was doing.
It took about 20 minutes for Spieth to debate with referees as he marched back to the practice range seeking a suitable place to take his penalty drop.
But after the comical sight of him flitting between Tour trucks in search of the right spot he finally pulled the trigger on a recovery shot from 260 yards out that left him an up and down to limit the damage to a bogey.
That he even knew to request a drop so far back was the result of bitter personal experience of struggling off the tee.
“I’ve just hit it in a lot of places before,” he would say on reflection with a smile. “Honestly, if I was a very straight driver of the ball I would have made a different score on that hole.
“Having been in unplayable situations before I just asked the question, ‘Is the driving range out of bounds?’
“When I got the answer, ‘No’, I thought, ‘Well that’s a much better location to hit the next shot because I can get it much closer to the green and it saves me almost a full stroke from going back to the tee.”
His quick-thinking proved the turning point as that 13th hole sparked a huge swing back in the Texan’s favour when it all seemed to be falling into the hands of playing partner Matt Kuchar.
The delay did as much damage to Kuchar’s momentum as it rallied Spieth’s – a fact the champ would later recognise as he apologised profusely to his US Ryder Cup team-mate.
With Spieth walking to the 14th tee with a spring in his step at limiting the damage to just one shot adrift of Kuchar, caddie Michael Greller stopped him.
“That’s a momentum shift right there,” he whispered to his friend. Now it was Spieth’s time to prove him right in emphatic style.
His rampage to glory read birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie and finally tap-in par for victory.
All watched and applauded by his house-mates for that week in Southport, Justin Thomas, Zach Johnson and Rickie Fowler, among the throng gathered greenside. For Kuchar the scars may linger at coming so close to a Major. His time may yet come and with a good record at Augusta National don’t be surprised if it comes as early as April this year. He’ll look back on that Open not so much as the one that got away but more the one that was snatched from him by a man whose closing stretch of golf was bordering on superhuman. The birdie on the 14th that set him off was nearly a hole in one. The eagle that followed was a bomb of a putt drained from 50 feet and on the next hole he was rolling it home from 30 feet. Spieth’s 69 saw him win by the same three-shot margin he had surrendered nine holes before. As he later joked 17 pars and a birdie would have been fine too. But not nearly as thrilling and utterly compelling to watch.