Soon, Johnson and Spieth came to the 365-yard-drivable-with-the-wind 18th hole and drove it – “smoothed a drive out there”, Spieth said – and both made birdies.
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World number two Jordan Spieth, who is seeking the third leg of an unprecedented calendar grand slam after victories in the Masters in April and last month’s US Open, was just one off the lead, with three-time major victor Padraig Harrington another shot back.
He joined Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – the three biggest names in golf over the last half-century – as the only players to capture the Masters and U.S. Open, only to come up short in a quest for the holy grail in golf – all four professional majors in the same year.
No, Spieth didn’t win his third straight major.
Spieth would have become the youngest Open champion since 1893 but his bid for the title was undermined by a costly double bogey at the eighth, where he four-putted.
Spieth is looking to join Ben Hogan as the only players to win the first three majors of the year. Dunne has a share of the lead with Louis Oosthuizen and Jason Day entering Monday’s final round at St. Andrews.
But as Johnson rolled in a long birdie putt on the 18th, Leishman was failing to get up and down from a bunker on the 16th and the 31-year-old from Warrnambool could not find a decisive birdie of his own on the last. Now at St Andrews, despite being five shots clear of his compatriot at the start of play, he was behind again after a disappointing 75 to fall back to seven-under.
“When I put my head down people just see the hat and I get asked for a few autographs”.
” I can’t describe the magnitude as to what he (Spieth) was going through because I’ve never been in that position certainly”, added Johnson, who moves from 25th to 12th in the world rankings”.
United States’ Dustin Johnson gestures to the crowd after putting on the 18th green during the second round of the British Open Golf Championship at the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland, Saturday, July 18, 2015.
Jordan Spieth has arrived at the Old Course.
With the fourth round of The Open Championship pushed to Monday due to severe weather over the weekend, only a doctor’s note would get you out of work and home on your couch to watch what ought to be an incredible final round of major golf. I need a really solid round tomorrow, though, because Dustin is not letting up. He says Woods replied that he would “love to play” and will do “everything to qualify”, but he’s not sure if he’ll be able to make the 60-player field for the Olympics.
“It’s going to sound stupid, but it felt like a tropical storm growing up in Florida, like the winds like that”, Koepka said.
“It’s surreal I’m leading The Open, but I can easily believe that I shot the three scores that I shot”.
The intention is for the delayed second round to be completed later on Saturday, for the third round to be played on Sunday and for the final round to be contested on Monday. I’m just a little frustrated because I just walked off the course about five minutes ago.
But with the most significant shot of the tournament, Johnson holed a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 18 for a 6-under 66 and was the first to post at 15-under 273.
He shot a 3-under 69 for a 135 at the midway point. On this day, Johnson got the better of him with a 7-under 65 and looked like the player to beat at St. Andrews.
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“If he had won, it would have been monumental build-up to the PGA Championship in August”, said Bob Dorfman, editor of the Sports Marketers Scouting Report.”The attention will be a little less astonishing now”.
