Advertisement

Jordan Spieth wins U.S. Open in wild finish

 
Jordan Spieth shoots 1-under 69 for a one-shot win and his second major championship of the year.
Jordan Spieth shoots 1-under 69 for a one-shot win and his second major championship of the year.
Published June 22, 2015

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — Another major for Jordan Spieth. Another stunning loss for Dustin Johnson.

Chambers Bay delivered heart-stopping drama Sunday in the 115th U.S. Open when Spieth birdied his final hole to become the sixth player to win the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same year. The real shock was not that he won, but how he won.

Moments after he finished his round, Spieth could only watch as Johnson had a 12-foot eagle putt for the victory. Johnson ran the putt just over 3 feet past the cup, and his short birdie attempt to force a playoff today rolled past the lip.

"I'm in shock," said Spieth, who goes to St. Andrews for the British Open next month in his pursuit of golf's holy grail, the calendar Grand Slam.

"Wow. … I wanted a fighting chance (in a playoff today). … I feel bad for Dustin."

Spieth, a wire-to-wire winner at the Masters in April, showed he can be clutch. He drilled a 3-wood off the back slope to 15 feet and two-putted for his birdie at 18 and a 1-under 69 to finish at 5-under 275. Johnson, in the final group behind him, made a 4-foot birdie on the 17th and needed a birdie to force a playoff.

Johnson blasted his drive so far that he had only a 5-iron to the par-5 18th green, and that rolled to 15 feet left of the hole. Make it and win. Two putts for a playoff.

He made par.

Spieth was waiting to use the bathroom when Johnson came off the course. He gave him an awkward pat on the back. There wasn't much to say.

Spieth, 21, became the youngest U.S. Open winner since Bobby Jones in 1923, and he's the youngest to win two majors since Gene Sarazen in 1922.

This is the latest major heartbreak for Johnson. He was in position to win the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach before a final-round 82, and he threw away the PGA Championship that year with a two-stroke penalty at the 72nd hole that cost him the win.

Johnson, who shot par 70, ended up at 4 under with Louis Oosthuizen, who tied a U.S. Open record with 29 on the back nine.

Oosthuizen, who shot 77 Thursday in the first round, was 9 over on his first 20 holes of the tournament and 13 under in his last 52.

At 3 under were Adam Scott (64), Cameron Smith (68) and Branden Grace (71), who started the day tied for the lead with Spieth, Johnson and Jason Day and who may have given Spieth a clear path to the championship with one disastrous swing three holes from the finish.

Grace and Spieth were both at 5 under heading to the reachable par-4 16th. One of the most accurate players off the tee all week, Grace sent his tee shot so far right that it cleared the black chain-link fence denoting out of bounds, bounced down an asphalt path and came to rest against another chain-link fence that separates pedestrians from the train tracks.

The two-shot penalty meant Grace was hitting his third shot from the tee.

Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene

Subscribe to our free Sports Today newsletter

We’ll send you news and analysis on the Bucs, Lightning, Rays and Florida’s college football teams every day.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

Spieth rolled in a 25-footer for birdie moments later to reach 6 under for the championship and only needed to play two trouble-free holes to win his second straight major.

Scott matched the second-best final round in U.S. Open history, a bogey-free 64 that allowed him to claw his way into the fray .

The lowest score remains Johnny Miller's memorable 63 at Oakmont in 1973. Peter Jacobson shot 64 at the Country Club in 1988, and Tom Kite and Vijay Singh did it at Southern Hills in 2001.

Jacobsen's round of 64 came on a course that was par 71. Like Chambers Bay, Southern Hills played to par 70.

Scott shot 70-71 over the first two rounds to make the cut, but was 2 over on Saturday as others made their moves. He was never in trouble Sunday, making birdie on his final hole as the 6,000 fans in the grandstand roared.

Day, who collapsed Friday with vertigo only to rally for a share of the 54-hole lead, bogeyed two of the first four holes on the back nine and couldn't make birdie putts at the 11th and the drivable par-4 12th.

Day said he started feeling better after the 12th hole Sunday after feeling worse as the day went on in the third round. He closed with 74 to finish five shots behind.

Now the Grand Slam pressure mounts for Spieth.

"To go to the home of golf for the next tournament is my sole focus," Spieth said. "You can't win them all unless you win the first two. I'll go looking for the Claret Jug, and I think I can do it if I get the right prep."

Spieth becomes the second player going to St. Andrews with wins in the first two majors. The first was Arnold Palmer in 1960. He lost by one.

Only one of the five players who previously won the Masters and U.S. Open went on to win the British Open: Ben Hogan in 1953.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy put himself into contention with an early surge. He had six birdies through his first 13 holes but finished with 4-under 66 to end up at par 280 for the tournament.

In his last four majors, McIlroy's record is win-win-fourth-tied for ninth. Next up: His British Open title defense.

The Golf Channel and ESPN contributed to this report.