As if Dustin Johnson didn’t have enough heartbreak at the U.S. Open, he got another serving of it at St. Andrews. The Masters and US Open champion now plans to channel the unfamiliar sensation of disappointment into becoming only the third man, after Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods, to win three Majors in a year at the US PGA.
Advertisement
Spieth’s bid for the third leg of an unprecedented calendar slam came up agonisingly short in the Open Championship at St Andrews, where he finished just one shot outside the play-off between eventual victor Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman.
Of course, as Patrick jokingly suggested, perhaps Spieth just hung around after the tournament because he was waiting for his ride home. “It was the hardest rain and the hardest wind at the same time of the day”. There’s something to be said for knowing how to get around Augusta National and for whatever reason, older guys who’ve had success there in the past always creep onto leaderboards – wouldn’t shock me to see Tiger do that, too someday.
Sure, Spieth played fantastic golf worthy of a victory.
Also, while he didn’t win the Claret Jug, the legendary trophy that goes to the victor for the next year, he didn’t miss out completely on it. A photo released Wednesday showed Spieth returning to the U.S. with Johnson on the same private plane and being allowed a swig of something from the Jug.
Starting the final round three shots behind, he shot 31 on the back nine and took the lead with his seventh birdie of the round on No. 12. He only dropped a shot on the 13th when his iron approach caught the greenside bunker.
Johnson remained remarkably cool under pressure, holing a vital putt on the 18th green to get to 15-under and secure a spot in the playoff. Holmes and Hunter Mahan, who led the 2013 tournament by two shots at the midway point but exited to be with his wife who was giving birth to their first child. After missing an 8-foot par putt on the 17th hole, he needed a birdie on the closing hole to join the playoff.
But true to his incredible form this season, he went birdie-birdie on the next two holes and then holed from 50 feet on the 16th to tie for the lead.
McDowell said: “I played with him early in the week and he hit the ball very well with a technically-correct swing”.
He hasn’t won a major since 2008, and we all know what has happened since then.
On the 17th tee, Spieth was thinking much the same thing.
“I’m not the most charismatic, maybe emotional, fun-packed individual on the golf course; I get that”, he said.
“I wear a lens which, in conditions like we have had, enhances the light”.
“He said congratulations and that he was proud”, Johnson reported. I play golf for a living, and I’m grateful for that.
They came by the thousands on a wet and chilly day, lured by cheap tickets and the chance to see history. “It doesn’t matter the historical element of it”, Spieth said.
Notable as Johnson’s achievement to add the British Open to his Masters win in 2007 was, it’s impossible to ignore what might have been for several other players.
“I think our game and the players that are playing it are in a great state”. It’s just that’s the kind of golf that was played by the field this week, it just took some special golf.
Advertisement
Irish amateur Paul Dunne will turn professional later this year after taking the 144th Open Championship by storm and major victor Graeme McDowell believes the 22-year-old has the talent to succeed immediately.
