British Open title shows Spieth can handle about anything
The scenes were nothing alike and wildly memorable.
Both started with a tee shot that sailed some 60 yards to the right during the final round of the British Open, and that’s where the similarities end.
Seve Ballesteros didn’t have to take a penalty drop from near the front tire of a black car in a parking lot at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. He had a two- shot lead, and once he dropped his ball away from the cars, he had a short iron onto the green. The great Spaniard went on to capture his first major championship in 1979, and he was jokingly referred to as the “Car Park Champion.”
Jordan Spieth?
He became the “Driving Range Champion” at Royal Birkdale, and it was no joke.
Spieth already had lost his three- shot lead in the final round last year when his drive on the 13th hole flew well to the right toward the dunes, hit a spectator in the head and wound up in a bush. Spieth had no shot, and really no place to drop that improved his chances. His best option was to go back to the tee and play his third shot. But wait.
“Is the range out of bounds?” Spieth asked.
The rest was a blur, until he arrived home in Dallas with the claret jug and watched replays for the first time.
“I could help but turn on the final round, and actu- ally fast- forward until the tee shot on 13. I didn’t watch the first 12 holes,” Spieth said. “For me, it went by pretty quickly because it was, ` OK, decision here, decision here, now I need to drop here.’ But with the coverage, with the commercials, and then they come back and it seems like we haven’t even moved, it was like, ` Man, that really did take a long time.’ That was kind of tough to watch.”
The ending was remarkable.
Once it was determined the range was in play, Spieth hit 3- iron over the dunes toward a green he couldn’t see, coming up just short. He pitched that delicately over a pot bunker and made the putt for a bogey.
And then it was pure Spieth after that.
He nearly holed his tee shot on the par- 3 14th with a 6- iron for birdie. He made a 50- foot eagle putt on the 15th, a 30- foot birdie putt on the 16th, an 8- foot birdie putt on the 17th and just like that, he was three legs home to a career Grand Slam.
“After the 13th hole, everything went slower to me than what’s on TV,” he said. “So it’s kind of this flip based on what I was watching and how I was feeling. For me, it was this whole regrouping and re- motivating and resetting a goal. And all that kind of took place pretty quickly in real time.”