NEWS

Jordan Spieth wins Australian Open by six in his first trip Down Under

By Dennis Passa
Published on
Jordan Spieth wins Australian Open by six in his first trip Down Under

SYDNEY – Jordan Spieth played the best round of his life to shoot an 8-under 63 on Sunday and win the Australian Open by six strokes, making his first trip Down Under a successful one. 
 
Spieth's four-round total of 13-under 271 on the tough, windy Australian Golf Club made him the first American to win the Australian Open since Brad Faxon in 1993, when the 21-year-old Spieth was four months old. 
 
Spieth birdied four holes on the front nine – three of them in a row – to lead by three strokes after nine holes, then made light of the challenging, windy conditions by adding four more on the back nine, never threatening to lose his lead. 
 
"It's the best round I have ever played, especially considering the conditions," Spieth said. "The golf course was in great shape, and it's an experience I will never forget." 
 
 
Leading local hope Adam Scott shot 71 and finished fifth, nine strokes behind. Defending champion Rory McIlroy, who shot 76 on Saturday, finished with a 72 and was 2-over, 15 strokes behind Spieth. 
 
Three Australians who finished closest to Spieth earned trips to next July's British Open. The Australian Open is the first qualifying tournament for the 2015 Open Championship and offers three spots to the top finishers not already exempt. 
 
Rod Pampling shot 68 to finish second, while former two-time Australian Open champion Greg Chalmers (71) and Brett Rumford (70) were third and fourth, respectively. All three will play at St. Andrews next year. 
 
Gusty northeasterly breezes played havoc all week with scores, and only eight players finished under par. 
 
Chalmers and Spieth were tied for the lead at 6-under after four holes, but Spieth birdied the par-5 fifth where Chalmers made bogey for a two-shot swing. The American also birdied the sixth and seventh, made a fine par save on the ninth, then did the same on the 10th from about five feet, pumping his fist as he edged closer to the title and the Stonehaven Cup trophy. 
 
McIlroy made two par-saving putts on both par 3s – the second and fourth – but had an eight-footer for birdie lip out on the third. 
 
On the par-5 fifth, he hit a perfect tee shot, but in attempting to reach the green in two, he hooked his next shot into some pine chips and trees near the green. His shot out clipped the top of a tree and landed in a bunker about 50 meters from the pin. 
 
 
His bunker shot nearly went in the hole, but drifted five feet past. On his par putt, a leaf drifted across his line as he hit the ball, and he made bogey. 
 
That effectively ended the defense of the title he won at Royal Sydney with a birdie on the last hole, denying Scott the Australian Triple Crown. 
 
"It's been tough all weekend," McIlroy said. "I was trying to get something going, but with the pin positions and the wind, it was just very hard to get the ball close to the hole. It just wasn't meant to be this year." 
 
McIlroy was non-committal about returning in 2015. 
 
"Depends all on the schedule and where it's going, but I love playing in Australia," McIlroy said. "I had a wonderful time this year ... so hopefully it works again." 
 
There were tributes around the golf course Saturday and Sunday for Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes, who died Thursday after being hit by a ball during a match at the nearby Sydney Cricket Ground. 
 
The number 63 was used in many of them, as that was the number of runs Hughes had scored before he was fatally injured. Spieth provided the final reminder – and an unintentional tribute – by finishing with a round of 63.