Spieth holes playoff wedge
Wins Travelers after sand shot drops on 18th
Jordan Spieth needed an extra hole, a little bit of luck and an amazing final shot to finish off a wire-to-wire victory Sunday at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn.
Spieth, 23, a two-time major champion, holed out from 60 feet for birdie from a greenside bunker on the first hole of a playoff with Daniel Berger at TPC River Highlands.
Spieth joined Tiger Woods as the only PGA Tour players with 10 victories in the era since World War II. Woods won 15 times before he turned 24.
“That was one for the ages,” said Spieth, also a winner in February at Pebble Beach, Calif.
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 in Erin, Wis., 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 two, 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 227 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 into 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.
Other tournaments
American Family Insurance Open: Fred Couples rallied to win in Madison, Wis., for his second PGA Tour Champions title of the year and 13th overall. Couples, 57, closed with a 6-under 66 at University Ridge for a twostroke victory over Scott Verplank (69). Couples birdied six of the first 11 holes and finished at 15-under 201. Couples also won the 50-andover tour’s Chubb Classic in February in Naples, Fla.
BMW International Open: Andres Romero had seven birdies in his final 11 holes to win by one stroke in Munich. Romero, ranked No. 837, carded a bogey-free round of 65, the day’s best, to finish on 17-under 271 overall, a shot better than Thomas Detry (66) and overnight leaders Sergio Garcia (69) and Richard Bland (69).
NW Arkansas Championship: So Yeon Ryu became the LPGA Tour’s first two-time winner this season, taking the crown in Rogers, Ark., with a tournament-record 18under 195 total. Five strokes ahead Saturday after a course-record 10-uner 61, third-ranked Ryu closed with a 69 for a two-shot victory over fellow South Korean player Amy Yang (64) and Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn (66).