Some are still at it, in fact, even though the Texan has taken just three events to return to winning ways, having claimed an eighth PGA Tour triumph – but first in his home state – with victory in the Dean & DeLuca Invitational (formerly the Colonial) in Fort Worth at the weekend.
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Entering the seventieth hole with a one shot lead, Spieth was given a lucky break from the “golfing gods” when he sprayed his tee shot into the left trees and received a lucky deflection, bouncing his ball back into the intermediate cut. Then, when Spieth went long with a flier lie for his second shot, he pitched in from behind the green for an unlikely, tournament-clinching birdie.
The 37-year-old from Arkansas, whose only PGA Tour win came when he defeated Briny Baird to lift the Frys.com Open in 2011, was out in 29 and 30 on the front nine in his first two rounds but he could not produce any more magic as he began his third.
Ariya Jutanugarn made a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-five 18th hole at Travis Pointe to take a one-stroke lead in the Volvik Championship at Ann Arbor, Mich.
“I’m very pleased with the round”, Spieth said.
“That’s not fun to hear”, Spieth said. “Hopefully, I can build on this going further”.
After a 12-foot birdie at No. 9 to make the turn at 10 under, Spieth’s approach at No. 10 went over the green before a wedge shot to about 9 feet and making that putt to save par. The subsequent free drop allowed him to hit his pitch shot from below the hole instead of above it – a shot that Spieth promptly holed to add to his lead. “I feel like that had been missing the first six months this season”.
Lahiri birdied second, fifth, seventh, 10th and 11th. It was one rotation from staying out of that bunker and having just a basic up-and-down. It really shouldn’t have been tough times but it is given the position we’re in, and that creates noise. “But it was a great putt and it was nice to keep momentum there”. His second shot clipped a tree branch but continued forward to within 88 yards of the hole and he hit his next to within nine feet. He uncharacteristically failed to put any pressure on the leaders last week in his hometown event the ATandT Bryson Nelson, finishing tied 18th, posting a four-over 74 in the final round. “I walked to No. 10 thinking I need to shoot 5-under but I don’t even know if that would have been good enough”. He had tremendous support from the galleries but he just couldn’t quite get it done, his putter letting him down on the run for home. I still got a chance.
On No. 16, it was a ideal 8-iron to leave a 20-footer up the hill that he coasted in at flawless speed.
However, he found bunkers with his first two shots on the par-four 12th and a double bogey dropped him back to nine under overall before his round was suspended three holes later due to the descending darkness.
Spieth won at Colonial after birdieing the last three holes Sunday for a 5-under 65, including a chip-in from behind the 17th green following a fortunate bounce off a marshal.
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“I probably made more putts today than I did that round”, Campbell said.
