Spieth clinches Player of the Year with Tour victory
At age 22, Jordan Spieth became the first $22 million man in golf Sunday.
Spieth capped off a dream season when he poured in putts from all over East Lake and closed with a 1-under-par 69 for a four-shot victory in the Tour Championship in Atlanta. That was all he needed to become the youngest player to capture the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus.
His fifth victory of the year, including two majors, was worth $1,485,000 and allowed the Texan to set a PGA Tour record with $12,030,465. And if that wasn’t enough, Spieth went back to No. 1 in the world.
His duel with Henrik Stenson long over, Spieth finished the round in fitting fashion. He made an 8-foot par putt that wasn’t going anywhere but right in the heart.
“This is one I cannot wait to celebrate,” Spieth said.
The first person to greet him was his little sister, Ellie, who keeps him so grounded. His parents, girlfriend, grandfather and high school friends from Dallas were at East Lake to watch another amazing performance in a year filled with them.
Stenson couldn’t do much about it.
On two holes around the turn with the Swede in tight for a certain birdie, Spieth matched him with a 20-foot birdie on the par-5 ninth and a 45-foot birdie on the par-3 11th. At that point, Stenson just stared at Spieth with a wry smile and patted him on the back.
“It’s been a phenomenal year for him,” Stenson said after a 72 to tie for second. “I watched it firsthand at the first two rounds at Augusta, and he played phenomenal and putted phenomenal. And it was the same putting display, really, today — just an exhibition on the greens, to be honest.
“His putting and mental focus is the best in the world. It’s hard to argue that.”
And there’s no longer an argument for PGA Tour Player of the Year.
Jason Day had five victories, including his first major at the PGA Championship, and there was talk a sixth win and the FedEx Cup might put the Australian in the discussion. Not anymore. Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open, missed a playoff by one shot at the British Open in his spirited run for the Grand Slam and was runner-up at the PGA.
Along with winning the money list, Spieth won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest adjusted scoring average.
Danny Lee (65) and Justin Rose (66) joined Stenson in second place. For Stenson, it was his third runner-up finish in the FedEx Cup playoffs, and his fifth runner-up finish this year without a victory. He still has more events left on the European Tour.
Champions Tour: Esteban Toledo shot a 3-under 69 to hold off Tom Watson at the First Tee Open in Pebble Beach.
Toledo rebounded from a bogey on the par-3 17th with a par on the par-5 18th for a 9under 206 total.
Watson, 66, was trying to break Mike Fetchick’s record as the oldest winner in tour history but his 67 left his one shot behind Toledo. Fetchick won the 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational on his 63rd birthday.
European Tour: Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee won the European Open in Bad Griesbach, Germany, for his seventh European Tour title, closing with a 4-under 67 for a one-stroke victory over England’s Graeme Storm.
Web.com Tour: Andrew Loupe won the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio to earn a PGA Tour card. Loupe closed with a 1-under 70 for a two-stroke victory. The 26-yearold LSU alum finished at 5under 279 on Ohio State’s Scarlet Course.