They were one shot ahead of reigning Masters and United States Open champion Jordan Spieth (69) of the US and Australian Jason Day (70).
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South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen lost in a playoff in a Major for the second time in his career as American Zach Johnson won the four-hole, three-man decider for the Open Championship at St Andrews, in Scotland, on Monday.
The 39-year-old American added to the Masters title he won eight years ago after winning a four-hole play-off with a par at the 18th after birdieing the first and second holes to defeat Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman.
And so it was Spieth, a 21-year-old Texan with an uncanny sense of occasion, who brought the gray, old town to life in a mixture of sunshine and rain. No one ever came closer to the third leg of the Grand Slam. He rolled in birdie putts on the 10th, 11th and 12th holes to share the lead. In fact, Oosthuizen played the last two in one-under-par, Spieth in one-over.
The 16th and 17th holes may have been a fitting end for Spieth. It was a monstrous putt that elicited a tremendous reaction from both Johnson and his caddie Damon Green.
“I made a mental mistake”, said Spieth. Instead of going for the Grand Slam, he’ll try and join Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only players in the modern era to win three majors in a season. He won his first major at the 2007 Masters.
“I can’t say I played well because I dropped too many shots over the last two days, which is disappointing”.
Johnson, preparing for a possible play-off on the practice ground, heard the roar and checked his phone to confirm what had happened, but it was then Spieth’s turn to bogey the 17th after mishitting his approach and coming up well short of the green.
“I’m humbled because of the names that are etched on this piece of metal”.
“This isn’t going to define me or my career, at least I hope it doesn’t”, the down to earth Johnson told reporters at St Andrews. “This is the birthplace of the game, and that jug means so much in sports”.
The Australian nearly quit golf altogether earlier this year after his wife Audrey was placed in an induced coma due to a respiratory illness and given a “five per cent chance” of surviving.
Jordan Spieth said he won’t beat himself up over finishing one shot out of a playoff at the British Open Championship. He had a birdie putt for the win that stayed wide left.
“People remember who wins the Open and that could have been worth up to £8million in his initial endorsements”, the expert said.
Zach Johnson cradled the silver claret jug in his arms. Forget the butter swing, forget the near back-to-back wins at St. Andrews and (please) forget the blown putt on the Road Hole in the playoff. But what a show.
Johnson certainly was a worthy champion.
Padraig Harrington drove into a gorse bush on No. 6 and made double bogey.
Oosthuizen three-putted for bogey on the par three eighth after a poor tee shot left his ball 30 yards away from the hole, albeit still on the massive putting surface.
Sergio Garcia was also in the frame but slipped from 14-under to 11-under, to tie for sixth with England’s Danny Willett and Justin Rose and leading amateur Jordan Niebrugge. He shot 66-71-70 over the first three rounds, meaning he was never more than three strokes off the respective round leader.
Oosthuizen was a runner-up for the second straight major.
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“That would be the next goal as far as the history goes”, he said.
