Jordan Spieth joins elite company with British Open victory

By Steve Lansdale

OUTHPORT, England — For years, former University of Texas golfer Jordan Spieth has been touted as a future star, and he has delivered. He added to his résumé Sunday when he faltered in the final round but regrouped to win the Claret Jug awarded to the champion of The Open at Royal Oakdale.

Spieth’s victory was historically significant for a couple of reasons: it [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]made him the youngest British Open champion since Seve Ballesteros in 1979, and since he already won the Masters and the U.S. Open in 2015, Spieth — still just 23 years old — joins the immortal Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three legs of the career Grand Slam before his 24^th birthday.

His first opportunity to complete the Slam will be at next month’s PGA Championship — if he wins, he will be the youngest player ever to win all four legs of the Slam, a feat previously accomplished by just five players: Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen.

Spieth won the event after firing a 12-under four-round total of 268, three strokes better than runner-up Matt Kuchar, after the two were tied heading into the final round.

The final round did not start well for Spieth, who bogeyed three of the first four holes and then shanked his tee shot on the 13^th hole enough that Spieth eventually found it amid the tall, wet grass near the practice range. But at this event, the range was considered in-bounds, and after taking a one-stroke penalty for the unplayable lie, he took a drop on the practice range, from where he lifted a shot over the dunes — and equipment trucks, from which he also received free relief. His blind shot landed near the green, from where he chipped and drained a putt to bogey the hole that could have been much worse. While Kuchar took his first lead on the hole, Spieth’s miraculous save kept him in the hunt.

After that, Spieth’s game got sharper, and a stunning 50-foot putt on the 15^th hole gave him a surge of momentum that never waned.

Kuchar birdied 15 to stay within a stroke, but Spieth — considered by many to be the PGA’s most talented putter — responded with a birdie of his own on a 30-foot putt that effectively sealed the match.

Spieth is the second Longhorn to win the British Open; Justin Leonard won in 1997 at Royal Troon.
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