SOMETHING 'SPECIAL'
Spieth rid himself of demons with thrilling Open win
SOMETIMES for athletes at the highest level, it’s not just the act of doing it. It’s how they do it that’s significant. In the case of Jordan Spieth and his British Open victory Sunday, had he plodded his way around Royal Birkdale and gotten to 69 in the final round via 17 pars and a birdie, the Claret Jug he likely spooned with Sunday night might not hold the same significance as it does now because of the treacherous path he ended up navigating to win it.
“Closing [Sunday] was extremely important for the way I look at myself,’’ Spieth conceded.
Spieth had a score to Birkdale. With himself.
His caddie, Michael Greller, knew. That’s why, while standing off to the side of the 18th green while his boss was receiving the settle Sunday at Claret Jug, Greller said this win “was more special’’ than any Spieth had won previously in his budding career — including the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open he bagged.
“He’s hurt a lot since that ’16 Masters, and I’m sure there were some doubts that crept in,’’ Greller said. “And then he just said, ‘You know what? I know how to do this.’ ’’ Oh, yes, he does. What Spieth did Sunday was turn that 2016 Masters — at which he famously blew a five-shot lead with nine holes to play, taking a quadruple-bogey 7 on the par-3 12th with two balls rinsed in Rae’s Creek — into an anomaly, not a trend.
What Spieth did was not just win his first British Open, but forge his reputation for being a resilient, cold-blooded closer.
How Spieth won Sunday was not lost on his fellow players.
“He’s a fighter,’’ Rory McIlroy said. “He’s shown that the whole way through his short career. He can dig himself out of these holes. He’s an absolute star.’’
McIlroy, who owns four major championships and has endured his share of heartbreak (see his final-round back-nine Masters meltdown), knows a thing or two about being a star and about being in the position Spieth was in Sunday.
When Spieth reached the 18th green with the tournament in hand, waiting on the back of the green to congratulate him were fellow players Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Jason Dufner, Gary Woodland and Zach Johnson, who denied Spieth a British Open win in 2015 at St. Andrews.
Spieth flew home with Johnson on a private plane in 2015 and drank wine out of the Claret Jug that night. He joked Sunday that he was warned it was bad luck to drink from the jug before you’ve won it, and he was beginning to believe that on the front
nine as his lead melted away.
“I’m at a loss for words,’’ Johnson said while trying to describe how Spieth survived the mess he had made on No. 13, where his drive sailed 120 yards toward Liverpool to the right of the fairway and yet he still salvaged a bogey. It was a guy falling into a shark tank and climbing out of it with a paper cut.
Ernie Els, whose prime happened to coincide with Tiger Woods’, marveled not only at the three majors Spieth already has at age 23 and his seven top-4 finishes in just 19 career majors, but the reputation as a ruthless closer he is forging.
“He can go up to the 14 mark,” Els said, speaking of major championships, which happens to be the number Woods is stuck on. “Guys kind of start knowing that you know how to win — and almost like Tiger — where people maybe feel like they can’t do it against Jordan.’’
Spieth is humbled to hear his name used in the same sentence as Woods and Jack Nicklaus, whom he joined Sunday as the only players to win three legs of the Grand Slam before age 24.
If he wins the PGA Championship next month at Quail Hollow, Spieth would eclipse Woods’ record as the youngest to complete the rare and elusive Grand Slam that only five players (Nicklaus, Woods, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen) have accomplished.
“I don’t compare myself,’’ Spieth said. “I don’t think that [comparisons] are appropriate or necessary. To be in that company, no doubt, is absolutely incredible and I certainly appreciate it. But I’m very careful as to what that means going forward, because what those guys have done has transcended the sport.
“And in no way, shape or form do I think I’m anywhere near that, whatsoever. So it’s a good start, but there is a long way to go.’’