Dunne dropped another shot at the second, but could count himself lucky he had not played himself out of the tournament entirely after hitting a wild tee shot and two provisional balls into the gorse.
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(AP Photo/David J. Phillip). By the time you read this, the leading group will be all set to tee off for the concluding round of the Open Championship, and I would wager that Spieth will be smack dab in the middle of those contending for the biggest prize in golf-the Claret Jug.
American sensation Jordan Spieth missed out by a single shot after he followed up a superb putt for a birdie on the 16th with a bogey on the 17th. He took 10 putts on the inward nine.
He’s shown more than enough game to win another. I don’t want to place third tomorrow. “Obviously the forecast is for high winds tomorrow, so the course is going to play really tough”.
“I always wanted to shoot 65 on Sunday at an Open”. But winning at St. Andrews would have to be a dream come true for him. In his return to St. Andrews, he was right there again for the claret jug.
“Every aspect of your game is challenged”, said Johnson, who was at 10-under 134. “If we were playing an amateur event here, I wouldn’t be too surprised by the scores I shot”.
Though he insisted prior to the tournament that he’s over those dramatic events at Chambers Bay, Saturday’s bad break must have had him cursing the golfing gods once more.
“Hopefully I can do it again, but whether I do or not, I’ll survive either way”.
The way the weather-delayed Open ended on Sunday, expect just about anything.
Johnson captured his second major – this one at the home of golf – winning the British Open in a playoff over Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman that capped off five wild days at St. Andrews and a suspense-filled final round. Day is just as big of a threat. With 14 players separated by three shots, no one seized control the entire day. Half of them were major champions, and there was yet another amateur among them – 21-year-old Jordan Niebrugge of Oklahoma State.
Some players, including Jordan Spieth, are complaining that the R&A never should have re-started play in such blustery conditions.
And after regaining his composure the world number two – who would have overtaken the absent Rory McIlroy in the rankings with a victory – saw his approach spin back off the green into the Valley of Sin, from where Costantino Rocca famously holed 20 years ago to get into a play-off with John Daly.
Louis Oosthuizen is closing in on a career Grand Slam of sorts.
A missed 8-footer on the treacherous 17th hole helped seal Spieth’s fate on the Old Course. That three of those have come in his past four major attempts is another nod toward his poor play over the past year, which has included recovery from back surgery and another swing change that has yet to yield any results.
Spieth, bidding to become the first player since compatriot Ben Hogan in 1953 to land the opening three majors of the year, seemed to be out of it after double-bogeying the eighth.
“Only one person has ever done it before”.
“Up and down for a playoff”, was the last thing Spieth said to caddie Michael Greller from about 90 yards away. “If I can shoot something like 10 under in the last two rounds, I think I’ll have a chance to win”. “Whoever comes out the champion, that’s a hell of a major”.
The 22-year-old from Greystones, a coastal town south of Dublin, carded a 66 to stun the rest of the field and shock thousands of fans assembled at the Old Course, who wondered who he was.
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The second day of the 144th Open Championship resumed at 10am after heavy rain forced play to be suspended just after its scheduled start time.
