Paul Dunne, the 22-year-old from Ireland, rolled in putts like this was the prestigious St. Andrews Links Trophy for amateurs instead of the oldest championship in golf.
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It is the second major championship of Johnson’s career, ending an eight-year wait since his last – the 2007 Masters.
“I’m humbled because of the names that are etched on this piece of metal”. 1, 2, 17, 18) playoff with Zach Johnson and Marc Leishman. “And I’d like to be one of those people to have that happen”. “The rest is history”.
He gave a stroke back by scoring a 5 on the third hole, but his rivals did the same, leaving him one up on Oosthuizen and three ahead of Leishman as they teed off on 18. His superb wedge play and putting were key to his victory.
By the end of the season Spieth is likely to be pulling in $10 million to $10 million in annual endorsements, said Matt Delzell, managing director of The Marketing Arm, who negotiates such endorsement deals. It’s a beautiful game, provides a great opportunity. “I’ve just got to be patient”.
He compounded matters by bogeying the 17th and then hitting his drive at the last out of bounds to produce a finish reminiscent of his 2012 capitulation.
Louis Oosthuizen said on Monday the famous St Andrews links where he won his first major five years ago “showed its teeth” on Monday after he fell just short of a second British Open.
“The good news for me is that as I stood up there, I trusted the swing”, he said.
“It’s never nice to lose a playoff”. “But yeah, I’ll take a lot out of this week”. In his return to St. Andrews, he was right there again for the claret jug.
Leishman went out in front with a 31 for the first nine and was leading at 16-under after saving par with a long putt, but he missed a short putt on the 16th for his first bogey.
But despite a strong late surge with a monster birdie putt on 16, he bogeyed 17 and needed a birdie on the 18th to make the play-off. He fought hard and didn’t drop a shot, but picked up only two birdies and none after the sixth. Johnson kept himself in contention across the competition, which ended on the Monday for just the second time in The Open’s history.
Spieth was close to having his name on that jug.
“It’s hard to digest it all at the moment”, said the visibly shell-shocked 34-year-old Queenslander, who broke his major drought by winning the green jacket in 2013, after coming home in 40.
In many ways, the Open leaderboard fluctuated just as rapidly as the weather.
The Australian was tied for the lead at the 144th championship midway through the back nine, but bogeyed the 614-yard 14th and then criminally missed from a foot for par at the next. He did it earlier this year when Johnson hit this insane shot at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He won the British Open in 2010, the last time it was held at St. Andrews.
Trailing by one on the final three holes of the tournament, Spieth was looking for his third straight major of the year and keeping alive hopes of a grand slam.
But a bogey, bogey start and some horror shots on both holes unnerved the rookie and he carded a final round 78 to not only miss out on his Open dreams but also the silver medal for top amateur. But a bogey on the tricky 17th, known as the Road Hole, put him in a position that proved to be too difficult to overcome.
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Jordan Spieth of the United States tees off on the ninth hole on Friday when he posted his only round that was above par.
