Spieth rallies for dramatic Open triumph

Jordan Spieth gives golfers the world over a lesson in knowing the rules in a British Open win that sets him apart as truly special.

US golfer Jordan Spieth poses for pictures with The Open’s Claret Jug. Photo: AFP

Texan Jordan Spieth gave golfers the world over a lesson in knowing the rules during the most phenomenal final stanza at Royal Birkdale that has set him apart as one of the truly special golfers of all time.

Spieth’s last six holes to win The Open will go down in annals of golfing history as one of the greatest sequences in the game of all time and just what he did had everyone on the coastal course scratching their heads in amazement.

Just a few days short of his birthday Spieth, 23, became just the second man, behind the legendary Jack Nicklaus, to have won three golf majors before his 24th birthday. It was also a pleasing finish for Victoria’s Marc Leishman whose final round of 65 and a tournament scoreboard of four under unexpectedly propelled him into sixth place.

Within the space of two hours Spieth, the 2015 Masters and US Open victor, turned around almost certain defeat on the Royal Birkdale course to claw back five strokes — a birdie, eagle, birdie and birdie — in the final five holes to triumph. But that doesn’t tell anything of the giddy drama just minutes earlier.that both answered his critics and his own doubts.

Spieth’s vivid round started on the 13th where he found himself in a serious spot of bother. He had driven his tee shot so far right it was up and over a large set of sand dunes, presenting a disastrous collapse of his Open lead.

At the time he was eight under, having dropped three shots from his overnight lead and his Open suddenly appeared as lost as his ball, buried deep in the wet sand on the wrong side of a six metre high grassy topped dune.

Commentators started to refer to Spieth’s meltdown at the 2016 Masters where he collapsed with bogeys at the 10th and 11th holes, followed by a quadruple-bogey to lose the title by three strokes, such was his desperate position. Spieth would later admit that his front nine play had put such thoughts in his head too.

Yet instead of trying to hack his way out at 13, and smash the ball straight into the towering sand before him, Spieth took an unplayable lie, dropping the ball more than 30m back, which just so happened to be between a set of satellite and sponsor trucks adjacent to the practice green.

US golfer Jordan Spieth embraces his girlfriend Annie Verret at the back of the 18th green. Photo: AFP

That awkward spot then allowed Spieth to take relief to the side of the trucks, fortuitously allowing him the smoothest of lies on the practice driving range. Match officials were scurrying around checking the lie, and the direct line from Spieth’s ball to the hole, as well as the nuances of the rule book in a frantic flurry of radio communications, while his playing partner Matt Kuchar was left waiting.

When asked if he had studied the rule book beforehand, Spieth laughed and said: “No, it’s just I hit it in a lot of places beforehand.”

Later Spieth was to tell Kucher “it was so hard to figure out (the direct line to the hole and where to drop his shot” and publicly thanked him for having taken the lengthy delay in his stride and with a smile.

Spieth’s smarts, and his booming drive over the sponsor trucks, railings, and the mountain of sand, meant that instead of a double, triple or even quadruple bogey, he lost just one shot on the hole, shifting to seven under.

That whole episode took 29 minutes of sheer chutzpah and ingenuity. It also sparked an inner fury that Spieth was able to harness into some incredibly accurate short play.

At the very next hole, the par three 14th, a clearly animated Spieth, fired at the flag and just missed snaring an eagle by centimetres.

It didn’t take long for him to get one though. At the 15th he putted a 12m third stroke on the par five 15th. Spieth was so pumped he pointed to his caddie Michael Greller, yelling “can you get that”. Kuchar notched up a birdie but found himself one shot behind the lead. And then Spieth rolled another long putt on the 16th for a birdie. He was two shots ahead.

On the 17th Spieth drove it to the left into the rough, but once again pulled out a birdie with fine putting. And then he strode onto the 18th green in front of the art deco club house to a standing ovation.

“I got it on the green, right?” Spieth confirmed from his caddie. His ensuing par notched up a tally of 12 under the card, three strokes ahead of Kuchar.

“Today took as much out of me as any day I have played golf,” said Spieth, adding that The Open title also meant more to him than any other victory because of the “crazy” way it was won.

Spieth said Greller had kept him in the game when he began getting down on himself.

“I got the good break today,” said Spieth, promising to return the Claret Jug next year and defend his title.

Marc Leishman turned what was an average week, and what could have been a bad week, into a proud promenade down the 18th fairway too, enjoying a top 10 finish at The Open.

Leishman finished sixth, and if not for an eagle putt shave at the par five 17th, which he birdied, he could have enjoyed an even heftier pay check.

Leishman recorded rounds of 69, 76, 66, 65 over the four days to pick up around US$300,000 having only just made the cut on Friday night at five over.

“I am happy with the day. I hit a lot of good shots, holed some good putts. And considering I made the cut on the number it was — it turned into a good week,” he said, readying to return to his family in Virginia Beach, US, where wife Audrey gave birth to their third child, Eve, a fortnight ago.

Apart from Leishman’s finishing flourish, Aaron Baddeley had one of the lowest scores of the day with a 64 to finish The Open at one over, boosting his confidence no end to try and win in Reno next week which he needs to secure a PGA Championship start. He tied for 27th, the same result as Jason Day who struggled in the final round, including an opening hole double bogey.

But Adam Scott fired in a solid three under par 67 to finish at evens and tied for 22nd. Scott said Spieth had told him how excited he was to be coming back to Australia for the Australian Open.

Scott said: “It’s awesome. It’s really great for the tournament. Great for Australian golf. I love the fact that Jordan enjoys coming down, and he’s already said how excited he is to me to be coming back and playing, it’s a big boost for us.”

But one player still undecided if he can make the Australian Open is Newcastle’s Andrew Dodt who finished at evens for the day and three over for the Championship to finish 44th.

Dodt said the Australian Open clashed with the first event of the 2018 European Tour in Hong Kong.

“That’s a tough one, I have to see what happens,” he said. Scott Hend was punished for two double bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes and finished four over, tied for 54th.

Meanwhile one of Australia’s promising young golfers Karl Vilips, of Victoria, won the prestigious Southern Amateur Championship in North Carolina on the weekend, with a five under par 67, winning by a stroke and beating golfers several years older.