Australian Open: Champion Jordan Spieth plans to keep coming back

Jordan Spieth’s bond with Sydney only grows stronger after days like yesterday.

Jordan Spieth celebrates victory with his girlfriend Annie Verret. Picture: Brett Costello.

Moments after securing the Australian Open for a second time in three years, American Jordan ­Spieth was given a roll-call of multiple winners of the Stonehaven Cup.

Gary Player, seven titles. Jack Nicklaus, six. Greg Norman, five. Quite the group.

“I feel pretty poorly about two,” Spieth joked.

“I certainly plan on (coming back) ... but how can you argue with coming here and getting the confidence we get out of this event. I have cut out a lot of overseas travel this year, but we still came here.

“That’s how important this event is to us. I haven’t gone anywhere else. Even if overseas travel is trimmed down, we still like coming here and plan to.”

Spieth’s bond with Sydney only grows stronger after days like yesterday. He arrived at Royal Sydney having endured a year of mixed fortunes, a pair of wins tempered by failure at the majors and a sliding world ranking. He departs with his confidence soaring and faith restored in a swing that let him down at times over the past 12 months.

When the tournament was on the line yesterday, others faltered. Not Spieth (69). His nerves were steady and his aim was true as he made a testing two-metre putt at the 72nd hole to secure a place in the playoff alongside Queensland youngster Cameron Smith (66) and Victorian veteran Ashley Hall (66).

He then returned to the 18th tee for the first hole of the playoff, splitting the fairway with his drive and launching his second below the hole, leaving himself four metres for birdie. It never looked like missing.

“I had a chance last year on 18 and didn’t hit a great putt,” Spieth said. “This time I had that same chance with a very similar putt in the playoff and capitalised. I drew back a little bit on that and said ‘this is our time to close this one out’.

“I didn’t have much confidence in my swing on the last couple of holes today in regulation. I was able to calm down in between and said, ‘let’s go ahead and prove to ourself that we can make clutch swings when it matters, I know I can make putts, let’s have some clutch swings when it matters — it’s been a little while’.

“A few people probably wanted it to go back into Aussie hands and Matt Jones wasn’t there to reclaim it. So we’re happy to take it in his absence.”

His win at the 2014 Australian Open was the catalyst for his rise to the top of the world rankings last year. Once again, he leaves Australia with positive vibes.

“I felt like I played well this week,” Spieth said. “My putting throughout the week wasn’t tip-top shape but my short game was there, iron game was solid, wedge game was solid. I certainly felt like I was playing well enough to be in contention, but I just wasn’t sure about winning.

“We made the putts at the very end that mattered.”

While Spieth stepped it up when it mattered, others will live to rue missed opportunities. Nobody more so than former winner Geoff Ogilvy (73), who at one point early on the final day had a three-shot lead over the field only to lose touch with a soul-destroying double bogey at the par-four 16th when he found trouble in the trees.

Likewise, Aaron Baddeley (71), who spent much of the day hovering around the top of the leaderboard only to drop out of contention with successive bogeys on the back nine.

Spieth was their polar opposite. Where they hit the brakes as their day progressed, Spieth slammed down the accelerator with three birdies on his final seven holes, and another in the playoff.

“The way we played the playoff is going to do wonders for me,” he said. “I have been in a bit of a stall hitting shots when they mattered. To hit those two shots in there, right where I wanted to hit them, and then to make the putt with it is really big going forward. It’s something I can draw on all next year, the way this one was finished out.

“It’s easier when you’re five or six up coming into the last few holes. You can trust anything, there’s no nerves, you’ve already closed it out. But it’s moments like today where you can really take it going forward.”