Jordan Spieth admitted memories of his meltdown at the 2016 Masters inspired him towards triumph on the final day of the Open on Sunday.
The Texan, who won two majors in 2015 but blew a five-shot lead on the back nine in the final round of the 2016 Masters, completed a one-under 69 after starting with a three-shot margin this time.
He opened up with three bogeys from four holes, however, which let his fellow American, Matt Kucher, draw level for the first time. “I was thinking, ‘Are we going through this [last year’s Masters] again?’” said Spieth. “But I’m over it.
“Closing in a major today was extremely important for the way I look at myself. I thought before the round, ‘I have a reputation as being able to close’, but I was hesitant in saying ‘majors’.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself unfortunately before the round today, just thinking this is the best opportunity that I’ve had since the 2016 Masters. And if it weren’t to go my way today, then all I’m going to be questioned about and thought about and murmured about is in comparison to that.”
Spieth apologised to Kuchar, his playing partner, after a delay of almost 18 minutes before he could take his third shot, following a penalty drop, at the 13th hole. But he said that what he did had to be done to give himself the best chance of winning the Open.
“I apologised profusely to Matt about the amount of time it took from when he hit his shot to when I played my second. There was nothing I could do and he told me that,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s tough [for him] to play golf that way and step up and hit a six iron when it’s starting to rain and the wind is blowing and you haven’t taken a full swing in probably 15 minutes. I didn’t feel like that was necessarily fair to him but I needed to do what I could to produce the best score.”
Spieth hit a wild drive and took the time to ask if the adjacent practice ground was out of bounds – it was not - and then find a suitable place to play his penalty drop from after finding an unplayable lie at the far side of a sand dune to the right of the fairway. There was an added hold-up over the yardage with his caddie, Michael Greller - who had given him a pep talk on the 7th tee after a poor start – telling his player to take a three iron for his estimate of 230 yards rather than the three wood for what Spieth had assessed to be 270.
The Texan’s bogey-five at the hole cost him the lead but he regained it with three birdies and an eagle from the next five holes and remarkably took the Claret Jug from Kuchar by the margin of three shots. “It took an errant drive and a crazy drop to get me going,” he said. “After that putt on 13 I felt a lot more comfortable because I felt I made a putt that really mattered from six feet; that just was enough to say we’re still in this tournament.”
“This is as much of a high as I enjoyed in my golfing life and I’m going to enjoy it more than anything I’ve accomplished in the past.”
Kuchar could not hide his frustration. “It’s crushing. It hurts,” said the 39-year-old, who posted his best finish in a major to beat the joint-third in the 2012 Masters. “You work so hard to get to this position and to have a chance to make history and win a championship ... you don’t get that many opportunities. To be this close, to taste it with five holes to go, it’s a hard one to sit back and take.
“There is an excitement and a thrill to have played well, put up a battle, put up a fight, but it’s impressive stuff when a guy does something like that. All you can really do is sit back, tip your cap and say ‘well done’.”
