Spieth delivers for remarkable victory
CROMWELL, Conn. — Jordan Spieth needed an extra hole, a little bit of luck and an amazing final shot to finish off a wire-to-wire victory in the Travelers Championship. The twotime major champion holed out from 60 feet for birdie from a greenside bunker on the first hole of a playoff with Daniel Berger on Sunday at TPC River Highlands.
The 23-year-old Texan joined Tiger Woods as the only PGA Tour players in the era since World War II with 10 victories before the age of 24. Woods won 15 times before he turned 24.
“That was one for the ages,” said Spieth, also the winner at Pebble Beach.
Spieth held a one-stroke edge after each of the first three rounds. He closed with an even-par 70 to match Berger — who birdied three of the final six holes for a 67 — at 12-under 268. Berger, the Memphis winner two weeks ago before missing the cut last week at the U.S. Open, just missed a 50-foot putt from off the 18th green left that would have forced a second playoff hole.
“Jordan does Jordan things,” Berger said. “So there's not really much you can say. I'm obviously disappointed, but happy to be in the position I was in today.”
Berger began the round in third place, three shots back. He tied Spieth for a lead with a 5-foot birdie putt on 15 as Spieth was making bogey on 14 and tied him again with a birdie from 8 feet at 17.
The pair, playing a group apart, both hit their approach shots on 18 into the same greenside bunker. Both chipped out close to the hole and both saved par to force the playoff.
Berger hit his drive on the first playoff hole left and into the crowd behind a fairway bunker. Spieth seemed to clip a tree left landing in the fairway but about 150 yards short of his normal drive and 230 yards from the hole. Spieth's approach fell into bunker. Berger's ran off the green to the left. Spieth had to back up after hitting his bunker shot to see the hole. When the ball rolled straight in the cup he threw his club and did a flying chest bump into caddie Michael Greller.
“If I was in Berger's shoes, I be cursing Jordan Spieth right now for the break off the tee and then holing a 30-yard bunker shot. That's a lot of luck,” Spieth said.
He also survived a couple of big scares, including his second shot at 17 that looked as if it might hit the course's signature lake but landed just on the edge of the green and he made par.
“That's a lot of luck,” Spieth said. “But I took advantage of the good breaks and am happy to come out on top.”
He's the third player to go wire-to-wire alone in the lead at the Connecticut event. Gene Littler did it in 1959 and Tim Morris in 1982. Spieth's only other wire-to-wire win was the 2015 Masters.
Couples wins
MADISON, Wis. — Fred Couples rallied to win the American Family Insurance Open on Sunday for his second PGA Tour Champions title of the year and 13th overall. The 57-year-old Couples closed with a 6-under 66 in cool and windy conditions at University Ridge for a twostroke victory over Scott Verplank. Couples birdied six of the first 11 holes and finished at 15-under 201.
Ryu triumphs
ROGERS, Ark. — So Yeon Ryu became the LPGA Tour's first two-time winner this season, taking the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship with a tournament-record 18-under 195 total. After a courserecord 10-under 61 on Saturday, the third-ranked Ryu closed with a 69 for a two-shot victory over fellow South Korean Amy Yang and Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn.