Spieth falls short.
SANDWICH, England — Jordan Spieth put on a Sunday charge that gave him a chance to win the British Open.
When it came up short, all he could think about was his Saturday meltdown, a bogeybogey finish when he was in position to make birdie.
“Had I finished parpar, I’d have been in the final group. And if you’re in the final group, you feel like you have control,” Spieth said. “Obviously, those two strokes were important.”
Slowed by two bogeys over the opening six holes in the final round at Royal St. George’s, the threetime major champion began his rally with an eagle putt on the par5 seventh hole and played the final holes in 6under for a closing round of 4under 66.
He wound up two shots behind Collin Morikawa, who played bogeyfree over the final 31 holes and didn’t give Spieth or anyone else the help they needed.
Even more disheartening for Spieth is that the hallmark of his game — wedge and a putter — is what ultimately cost him a shot at his fourth major, and second British Open.
“The finish yesterday was about as upset as I’ve taken a finish of a round to the house,” said Spieth, who refused to speak to the media after his third round. “I walked in and wanted to … I said, ‘Is there something that I can break?’ I knew that was so important because I would have been in the final group.”
Rahm’s bid: With long odds of winning the British Open in his bid to capture golf ’s two oldest championships in the same year, Jon Rahm went down swinging.
He was five shots behind going into the last round, not insurmountable except that no one had come from that far back on Sunday at a major since Phil Mickelson in the 2013 British Open.
And the U.S. Open champion had his chance except for too many mediumlength birdie chances skirting the side of the cup. Even so, he ran off four consecutive birdies on the back nine before he had to settle for two pars and a 4under 66.
That gave him a tie for third, four shots behind Morikawa.
“I think the main part of my game that could have been a little bit better is putting,” Rahm said. “Not that I’m asking to make every putt, but I really struggled to make putts outside 8 feet. … There was a lot of chances out there that I could have made.”
Still, the 26yearold Spaniard capped off perhaps the best year in the majors. He is the only player to finish in the top 10 at all four majors — a tie for fifth at the Masters, a tie for eighth in the PGA Championship, a win at the U.S. Open and a tie for third at the British Open.
Major improvement: Mackenzie Hughes of Canada had missed the cut in six of the eight majors he had played. And then he was right in the thick of it on the back nine at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines until his ball got stuck in a tree, and he had his best finish at the British Open with a tie for sixth.
“When you have high finishes like that and play with the best players in the world and hang in there and stay with them, does a lot for you,” Hughes said.
This was his first British Open, and he posted all four rounds in the 60s. By finishing in the top 10, he is exempt for St. Andrews next year.
Briefly: Spieth and Hughes shot in the 60s all four rounds, the first players since Rickie Fowler in 2014 to do so without winning. … Shane Lowry tied for 12th, making him the fifth straight British Open champ to finish among the top 12 in his title defense.