Jordan Spieth dominated the first three rounds of the 146th British Open and then proceeded to bogey three of the first four holes today allowing co-leader Matt Kuchar and Haotong Li to creep back in to contention. The drama reached its peak when Spieth seemed ready to fall apart on the thirteenth hole after slicing shot so badly to the right he had to take a penalty stroke. After roughly half an hour of finagling and an apology to Kuchar, Spieth managed to save bogey but in the process ceding a one stroke lead to his rival (the first time he was out of the lead all weekend) for the Claret Jug which made it 8 under par for Kuchar and 7 under for the 23 year old. It is an oft-repeated cliche in sports that when the moments are toughest, the great athletes show their mettle. However Spieth, despite his two previous major wins, had notably wilted under pressure before including multiple shots into the water during the last round at the 2016 Masters.
At the 14th Spieth nearly got his tee shot in on the par-three hole, and knocked in the short birdie but that was only the start of the magic. At hole 15 it got even more magical as he managed to sink a nearly 50 foot Eagle putt which moved him to two strokes ahead of Kuchar. He kept his foot on the gas with birdies on 16 and 17 while Kuchar, despite playing admirably and making good shots of his own, could not keep up. Kuchar’s bogey on the 18th and final hole sealed his fate which after a tap in par made Spieth one of the youngest winners of the British Open and assuming he can win the PGA Championship in two weeks time will make him the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam of winning all four majors.
