Spieth’s three shot victory over Harris English at the Dean and DeLuca Invitational at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth in Texas did not always appear as clear cut as the margin might suggest but it was the manner of the win and his unbelievable closing stretch that stamped him as being well and truly back, if indeed he was even away in the first place.
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He had three consecutive birdies after making the turn, and three more in a row to finish his 5-under 65 on Sunday, including a chip-in birdie from behind the 17th green after a fortunate bounce off a marshal.
Palmer finished in a tie for third with a final score of 13-under par.
Spieth began the day with a one-shot lead over Colonial member Ryan Palmer and Webb Simpson.
Palmer overcame consecutive early bogeys to shoot 66. He made short work of the par-5 11th with an easy up-and-down for birdie, then he stuck his approach shot to the 12th to just 4 feet for a simple birdie.
Add that to his last-nine meltdown to lose the Masters and a missed cut at the Players Championship and it’s easy to see how the Texan would love to capture his first PGA win in his home state to build confidence and momentum ahead of the US Open. On Saturday, he hit only three of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens in regulation, but his only bogey was on the last hole.
However, Spieth found the rough off the tee at the last and finished with a bogey at the par-four hole. I just didn’t hole enough putts.
Anirban Lahiri of India (68), Jason Dufner (70), Matt Kuchar (68) and Martin Piller (71) tied for sixth at 9-under, eight shots behind Spieth. “I had a couple of that would have gone in had I put the flawless speed on them”.
“You know how much this tournament championship means to me”, Montgomerie said. “It’s going to be a tough day and it’s going to be a fun day”. “I played some really good golf and hit some good shots coming down the stretch but obviously Spieth did some pretty spectacular stuff”. “I certainly felt an incredible amount of pressure from when we started on #1”. She has three top-10 finishes this year, including a tie for third.
At 14-under 199, the 53-year-old Mediate tied the tournament 54-hole record of set by Sam Snead in 1973 at PGA National and matched by Roger Chapman in 2012 at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich. Both shot 68 on the final day.
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“I was so sick and disappointed with the putt I hit on 18, because that was what I wanted”, Palmer said.
