Humble has backed Day to seize Open Championship glory, declaring the Queenslander has the form to snare his first major. “I’d like to be one of those people to have that happen”.
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Johnson was the first to post at 15-under 273 with his 30-foot birdie putt.
Schniederjans, who joins the professional ranks on Tuesday, carded a final round 67 to roar up the leaderboard while deep into the final day Dunne, Niebrugge, England’s Ashley Chesters were still going toe-to-toe with the paid ranks. Either way, it’s simple.
But Spieth wasn’t able to reach the four-hole aggregate playoff between Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman, falling one stroke (and a few inches of his birdie putt on No. 18) short. Still, he is such a good putter that the 35 feet he had left was not impossible, even though the ball had to come up and over a ridge.
“I’ve come a long way since 2007”, Johnson told ESPN after his win.
“I feel blessed to be the champion and honoured to be part of the history of this game”, Johnson said after a round played in a damp and heavy atmosphere, but more importantly for the players, in light winds. Then he holed a monster putt from 50 feet on 16 to get into a share of the lead.
By the end of the season Spieth is likely to be pulling in $10 million to $10 million in annual endorsements, said Matt Delzell, managing director of The Marketing Arm, who negotiates such endorsement deals. “If you make double bogey, it’s a very hard climb”.
Oosthuizen, the last player to lift the claret jug at St. Andrews in 2010 and a runner-up at the U.S. Open last month, birdied three of his last five holes for a 67. I was really motivated to win this championship this week. A lot of them fell away.
“Hopefully, I can do it again tomorrow”, he said.
“I hit my first putt off the green and there’s absolutely no reason to do that”. “I’ve got a couple more events this summer left, and we’ll see how it goes”.
In competition as tightly contested as this Open Championship was, you cannot 4-putt, and you can’t become aggressive when patience is called for.
On No. 16, he rolled in a 50-footer for a share of the lead. But it only took one hole for it to become essentially a two-man competition. This was the moment Spieth had hoped to create.
He stunningly bogeyed 17 when he hit a poor approach shot and then missed the tough 8-footer.
“The putt on 18 was a little left the whole way”. I play golf for a living, and I’m grateful for that.
As a matter of fact, Johnson has two of the most coveted prizes in the sport, achieved at the two most coveted places.
His greatest asset had turned on him.
Apart from the four-putt on the eighth hole yesterday, Spieth also made six three-putts during the tournament.
Oosthuizen didn’t do himself any favors later on when he missed an easy putt that further set him back against the surging Johnson. The approach shot that followed seemed to be on-target, but the ball spun backward down the face of the green.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski once said about one of his greatest players, Christian Laettner, “Christian may miss, but he will never choke”.
“I think I did really well getting in the play-off”.
” I’m well capable of shooting the scores that I need to win if everyone else doesn’t play their best”.
That he did not reflects two things.
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“Right now, it’s just a tough feeling to be that close in a major”, Spieth added.
