Stunning Jordan Spieth finishes in style of a champion

Jordan Spieth staged one of the great rebounds in a final round at a major championship when defeating Matt Kuchar with a stunning performance over the last five holes at Royal Birkdale to land the 146th Open Championship.

A birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-par finish to his closing round of 69 in the rain at Southport provided a stunning response to a near disaster at the 13th hole when a sliced tee shot to the wrong side of a giant dune forced him to take a penalty drop between two club manufacturers’ trucks on the practice ground more than 100 yards right of the fairway. The ensuing shot was even further right along the line of sight, but Spieth’s rescue act was to prove the start of a remarkable closing phase of this most compelling final day.

It had started with Spieth holding a healthy three-shot lead over fellow American Kuchar, and it would have come as no surprise to see the Texan’s name being etched onto the plinth of the famous auld Claret Jug in the Lancashire twilight. Yet what transpired was four hours of the most gripping golf and unimaginable drama in which the 23-year-old Spieth needed one of his finest 18 holes to complete the third leg of a career grand slam of major wins that only Jack Nicklaus had achieved by an earlier age.