Cool your Delta jets, people. Young Jordan Spieth is not the next Tiger Woods. Spieth, 23, man-child of golf’s promised land, showed that repeatedly in winning the game’s oldest championship and the third leg of the career grand slam. He is Jordan Spieth, on Sunday a dune-running, putt-holing, thrill-a-minute sui generis golfing savant.
And that is more than enough.
He began Sunday with a three-shot lead over his playing partner, Matt Kuchar, with his perma-smile and loping gait and easy-going demeanor. Spieth said going in to the finale that Kuchar was an ideal playing partner, the kind of sentiment you never heard Tiger express in his life. More to the point, we all know what Woods would have done with a three-shot 54-hole lead: stolen all the available air from the event and ended the proceedings before making the turn on Sunday. Spieth is not built for that. He went out in 37, to Kuchar’s even-par 34, and the game was on.
Photos From the The Open Championship
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Team Spieth poses after Jordan's win at The Open
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Jordan and caddie Michael Greller smile as they pose for a picture holding up the trophy
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Jordan takes a photo with his friends and family at the airport after The Open
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Jordan smiles as he takes a picture with sister Ellie and brother Steven following his win at The Open
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Chris and Shawn Speith pose for a photo with The Open trophy following Jordan's win
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Jordan and his girlfriend, Annie, pose with his trophy after his win at The Open
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Jordan poses with his younger sister Ellie, as she holds his winning trophy
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Jordan, winner of the 146th Open Championship, poses with the Claret Jug
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Jordan in front of the clubhouse at Royal Birkdale
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Jordan poses with members of Team Spieth (left to right, co-manager Jordan Lewites, Michael Greller, Jordan, coach Cam McCormick and agent Jay Danzi)
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Jordan holds the Claret Jug alongside Matt Kuchar just off the 18th green
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Jordan celebrates as he walks the Claret Jug around the 18th green
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Jordan looks back at the hole after sinking his 48-foot eagle putt on No. 15
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After the bogey on No. 13, Jordan celebrates his birdie response on No. 14
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Forced to take an unplayable lie, Jordan hits his recovery shot from behind the equipment trailers near the practice range
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An errant tee shot left Jordan's drive sitting in an unplayable position on a large dune off the right of the 13th fairway
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A clutch chip off the green led to a par save on No. 11
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Jordan acknowledges the crowd on the sixth green
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Jordan and Michael line up a putt on No. 4
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After a round of 65 on Saturday, Jordan heads into the final round with a 3-shot lead. As ESPN's Jason Sobel notes, it's a role that he's comfortable playing
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Jordan reacts to his 20-foot birdie putt on No. 18
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Jordan lines up his birdie putt on the final hole with Matt Kuchar, his round 3 playing partner, looking on
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A fairaway shot on No. 16
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A birdie putt on No. 13
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Jordan's tee shot on the par-4 No. 11
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Jordan and caddie Michael Greller fist-bump after wrapping up round two on the 18th green
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Jordan shields himself from the rainy weather at the 8th hole during the second round
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Jordan hits his second shot on the 6th hole during round two of the Open Championship
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Jordan shakes hands with Henrik Stenson of Sweden on the 18th green during the first round
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Jordan acknowledges the crowd on the 18th green
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Jordan hits a bunker shot on the 15th hole during the first round
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Jordan lines up his putt on the 5th hole during the first round of the 2017 Open Championship
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Jordan watches on as his caddie, Micheal Greller, chips during a practice round
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Jordan smiles as he gives a 'thumbs up' during a practice round
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Jordan meets with some young fans to sign autographs during a practice round
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Phil Mickelson and Jordan share some laughs as they chat during a practice round ahead of the 2017 Open Chmapionship
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Jordan meets with the press during a practice round ahead of the 2017 Open Championship
Spieth is nothing like mechanically perfect, and because he’s not the fourth round of this 146th British Open was a case study in why golf is, at its core, an imperfectible game that reveals not only a player’s eye-hand coordination and clubhead speed but also the plumbing in his heart and the wiring in his brain. His final-round one-under 69, in an ever-cooling and freshening afternoon breeze and with nobody really to beat but himself, was at times—here’s looking at you, tee shot on No. 13—a horror show. But the winner’s claret jug has no pictures on it, only names, and now Spieth is the fifth Texan with his name engraved on it. (Justin Leonard, Bill Rogers, Lee Trevino and Ben Hogan got there first.)
Yes, Spieth is aiming and trending for the stratosphere, for Trevino (six majors) and Hogan (nine majors) and beyond. Spieth now has a hat trick of them: the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open, plus the 2017 British Open at the regal links here, Royal Birkdale. If he wins the PGA Championship, next month at Quail Hollow or at anytime in the next 30 or 40 years, he’ll have the career grand slam, something achieved only by Gene Sarazen, Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods. He turns 24 on Thursday.
The day should have been all about Spieth, but in the end it was all about Spieth and Kuchar. Haotong Li, a sleek, 21-year-old Chinese golfer built like a racehorse, shot a Sunday 63 to post six under early. (Back in the day—Friday, July 21, 2017, to be exact—that would have been a historic round in major championship men’s golf, but then came Branden Grace with his 62 on Saturday.) Even with Spieth’s Sunday struggles, six under was never going to win this thing.