Spieth 1 round from 3rd leg of Grand Slam
SOUTHPORT, England — Jordan Spieth is one round away from the third leg of the career Grand Slam, and one year removed from a reminder that it won’t be easy.
On the horizon is a chance to join Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three different majors at age 23. In the past was his last time leading a major, when he let a five-shot lead get away from him on the back nine a year ago at Augusta National.
All that mattered to him was the present.
Spieth did his part on an extraordinary day of scoring in the British Open, capping off his 5-under 65 by seizing on a good break and making a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a threeshot lead over Matt Kuchar, who did his best to keep pace with a 66.
Spieth had one of seven rounds at 65 or lower at Royal Birkdale, which was never more vulnerable with a light breeze and a clear sky until the final hour. He was warming up on the range when Branden Grace shot 62, the lowest 18-hole score over 157 years of major championships. Spieth then delivered his second bogey-free round of the week in which he never came seriously close to a bogey.
“Pretty stress-free,” Spieth said. “On a Saturday with a lead in a major, that’s as good as I can ask for.”
He was at 11-under 199, breaking by six shots the 54hole record at Royal Birkdale that Tom Watson set in 1983. Not only did that last birdie give him a three-shot lead, no one else was closer than six shots.
This will be Spieth’s third time taking the lead into the
British Open At Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Southport, England Purse: $10.25 million Yardage: 7,156; Par: 70
Third Round Jordan Spieth 65-69-65—199 Matt Kuchar 65-71-66—202 Austin Connelly 67-72-66—205 Brooks Koepka 65-72-68—205 Branden Grace 70-74-62—206 Hideki Matsuyama 68-72-66—206 Dustin Johnson 71-72-64—207 Henrik Stenson 69-73-65—207 Chan Kim 72-68-67—207 Rafa Cabrera Bello 67-73-67—207 Ross Fisher 70-72-66—208 Rory McIlroy 71-68-69—208 Richie Ramsay 68-70-70—208 Ian Poulter 67-70-71—208 Rickie Fowler 71-71-67—209 Alex Noren 68-72-69—209 Richard Bland 67-72-70—209 Shaun Norris 71-74-65—210 Scott Hend 71-74-65—210 Jason Day 69-76-65—210 Jason Dufner 73-71-66—210 Tony Finau 70-73-67—210 Paul Casey 66-77-67—210 Andrew Johnston 69-74-67—210 Matthew Fitzpatrick 69-73-68—210 Sergio Garcia 73-69-68—210 Joost Luiten 68-72-70—210 Jamie Lovemark 71-69-70—210 Tommy Fleetwood 76-69-66—211 Marc Leishman 69-76-66—211 David Drysdale 72-73-66—211 Matthew Southgate 72-72-67—211 Thongchai Jaidee 70-73-68—211 Chris Wood 71-72-68—211 Kevin Na 68-75-68—211 Steve Stricker 70-72-69—211 Haotong Li 69-73-69—211 Ernie Els 68-73-70—211 Bubba Watson 68-72-71—211 Thomas Pieters 69-75-68—212 Zach Johnson 75-66-71—212 Charley Hoffman 67-73-72—212 Brandon Stone 73-72-68—213 Alfie Plant 71-73-69—213 K.T. Kim 73-71-69—213 Peter Uihlein 72-72-69—213 Andrew Dodt 69-75-69—213 Jon Rahm 69-74-70—213 Adam Scott 69-74-70—213
final round of a major. He led by four at the Masters two years ago and won by that margin. More recent was a one-shot lead at Augusta to start the final round, a five-shot lead at the turn and a quadruplebogey on the 12th hole that cost him another green jacket.
Spieth was embracing both memories.
“I think I’m in a position where it can be very advantageous, just everything I’ve gone through — the good, the bad and everything in the middle,” he said. “I understand that leads can be squandered quickly. And I also understand how you can keep on rolling on one.”
He described the Masters last year as a humbling experience that he thought would serve him well down the road.
“If I don’t win tomorrow, it has nothing to do with that,” he said. “And if I win tomorrow, it has nothing to do with that, either.”
Kuchar never quite caught up to Spieth. He twice made birdies that momentarily tied him for the lead, only for Spieth to pour in birdie putts on top of him to stay in front. Kuchar’s one slip was a drive into the pot bunker on No. 16 when the rain finally arrived, and a threeputt that led to double bogey.
He will be playing in the final group of the fourth round at a major for the first time, and the 39-yearold Kuchar sounded up for the occasion.
“It’s not that I ever felt like I was playing Jordan today,” Kuchar said. “We certainly had a great round of golf. I never felt like I was out there trying to beat Jordan. It’s trying to go up against Royal Birkdale and put on the best show you can against the golf course.”
No one put on a show quite like Grace, the 29-year-old South African who had a chance to win the U.S. Open two years ago. He went out in 29, then added two long birdie putts on the 14th and 16th holes, and a two-putt birdie on the 17th to reach 8 under. From 60 feet behind the 18th green, he lagged it to 2 feet and tapped in for a 62.