Clinging to a one-stroke lead, Spieth pitched in from behind the 17th green and finished three strokes ahead of English to win for the first time in his home state.
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Local favourite Jordan Spieth (65) clinched the title after ending with 17-under which is three clear of second-placed English (68).
If Palmer had a white flag, he would have waved it following Spieth’s miraculous birdie on 17.
LPGA: Ariya Jutanugarn, 20, became the first player in three years to win three straight events, closing with a 5-under 67 for a five-stroke victory in the Volvik Championship at Ann Arbor, Michigan. He then rolled in a nonchalant, 34-foot putt on the final hole for one last birdie to put a capper on his remarkable finish.
He was fortunate in two particular instances on the back nine, including on the 13th, when, after a poor tee shot, he bladed his bunker shot toward the water. “So in our third tournament coming back to close this one out the way we did is really, really special”.
“Obviously, this has worked very quickly, just feeling confident and comfortable with those sorts of shots and sharpening up my short game”. Those are high-pressure situations where I just felt like I had enough of a trigger where I could produce one ball flight, that little draw, and it would be within five yards or so of where I was looking.
“No matter what happens in the next 30 years of my career”, Spieth told reporters after his final round at Colonial in Fort Worth, “this will be one of the most important days that I’ve ever had”.
Spieth’s front nine was relatively benign, firing an even par opening nine of 35 on the Perry Maxwell designed course. He ended up at 14-under, but was no match for Spieth down the stretch.
“I didn’t know I shot 66”, Mediate said.
Spieth began the day with a 1-shot lead over Colonial member Ryan Palmer and Webb Simpson.
“I made a couple mistakes throughout the round, but overall played pretty good”, Simpson said.
The only non-US player in the top 10 was India’s Anirban Lahiri, who shared sixth on 271 after a 68.
But he made scrambling saves from both the greenside bunkers he hit into and chipped in from 32 feet for a birdie on the par-5 11th in a round in which he had six birdies and one bogey.
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 pitching to within about nine feet and making that putt to save par. “For me it’s big just to take a big step and a small chunk into Jason’s lead right now”, he said.
Palmer, playing in the group immediately ahead of Spieth, Simpson and Piller, barely touched the hole on an eight-foot birdie putt on the closing hole that would have tied him for the lead at the end of the day.
None of Spieth’s seven PGA Tour victories have come in his home state of Texas.
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Defending champion: Chris Kirk. He’s flashed upside with a cross-handed putting grip, finishing fourth at the Dell Match Play, tying for 10th at the Masters and tying for fourth at the Wells Fargo Championship before winning a hometown event of his own at the Irish Open last week. “My attitude, even when a shot wasn’t going great, was as good as it has been since the Masters”.
