KING HILL OF THE
Spieth rules British after wildest bogey propels him to blazing finish
SOUTHPORT, England — In the minds of virtually everyone except Jordan Spieth, by Saturday night the Claret Jug already was Spieth’s to keep for the year.
They were going to play Sunday’s British Open final round at Royal Birkdale merely to make it official before handing Spieth the coveted silver trophy with his name engraved alongside the previous 145 winners. And off he would go with the third leg of the career Grand Slam in tow to next month’s PGA Championship, the only major he has not yet captured.
This, of course, is what most everyone else was thinking.
But not Spieth. Not that he was expecting to choke. Just that the last time he’d held a final-round lead in a major he did choke, losing the 2016 Masters after holding a five-shot lead with nine holes to play.
File Sunday’s riveting final-round theater under the title: “Even the best players in the world are subject to self doubt.’’
Spieth, who entered the day having converted eight of his last nine 54-hole leads into victories, took a three-shot lead over Matt Kuchar into the final round, lost that lead in a dramatic sequence that included making bogey on 13 after taking a penalty stroke for an unplayable lie, regained it and then won going away.
He survived himself as much as the golf course and Kuchar’s challenge, going 3-over on the first four holes to lose the lead, falling behind on No. 13 but playing the final five holes in 5-under to ultimately finish at 12-under after shooting 69 and somehow winning by the same three-shot margin with which he entered the round.
“Today took as much out of me as any day that I’ve ever played golf,’’ Spieth said.
As tired as he might be, Spieth
joined Jack Nicklaus (who was also 23) as the only other player to win three different majors before turning 24. If he’s able to capture the PGA Championship next month at Quail Hollow, Spieth will break Tiger Woods’ record as the youngest player to secure a career Grand Slam.
Shortly after Spieth’s win, Nicklaus tweeted ,“Wow! What a wild back nine! Is @JordanSpieth something else?’’ Yes he is. And yes, the back nine was wild, with Spieth losing the lead to Kuchar after a bizarre bogey save on No. 13 from a drop in the driving range, and then blitzing the final five holes. That dizzying run included Spieth nearly acing the par-3 14th hole, burying a 50-foot eagle putt on 15 and then a 30-foot birdie putt on 16.
The bogey on 13, which Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, called the “greatest bogey I’ve ever seen — by miles,’’ was the catalyst to victory.
“I was so confident and all of a sudden, the wheels have kind of come off everything,’’ Spieth said. “And I’m thinking, ‘ How do we get back on track to salvage this round and just give yourself a chance at the end?’ It took a bogey to do so.’’
When it was all over, Spieth was transparent about the doubts that crept into his soul during the final round — doubts that nearly doomed him before he recovered to go on that final five-hole tear.
“Before the round, I thought I have a reputation for being able to close,’’ Spieth said. “But I was hesitant in saying ‘majors’ to myself, because I put a lot of pressure on myself before the round just thinking, ‘This is the best opportunity that I’ve had since the ’16 Masters, and if it weren’t to go my way today, then all I’m going to be questioned about and thought about and murmured about is in comparison to that.’
“Sometimes you just can’t really figure it out, put your finger on it. And during the round [Sunday], I definitely thought, ‘ Any kind of fear or advantage that you can have in this moment over other individuals, not just Matt Kuchar today, but other people that are watching, that’s being taken away by the way that I’m playing right now.’
“And that was really tough to swallow. And that kind of stuff goes into your head. I mean, we walk for two minutes, three minutes in between shots. And you can’t just go blank. You wish you could, but thoughts creep in. But closing [Sunday] was extremely important for the way I look at myself.’’
The 39-year-old Kuchar, a seventime PGA Tour winner who was seeking his first major championship after 46 failed tries, called the loss “crushing.’’
But he paid homage to Spieth’s guile.
“Jordan is a great champion and certainly played that way in the finishing stretch,’’ Kuchar said. “It was impressive stuff when a guy does something like that. All you can really do is sit back, tip your cap and say, ‘Well done.’ It was certainly a show that he put on.’’