Jordan Spieth wins Australian Open in 3-way playoff

The world No 5 birdied the first extra hole to beat home favourites Cameron Smith and Ashley Hall after the trio had finished tied on 12 under par.

Spieth, the former world No. 1, had to sink another clutch par putt on the 18th hole at Royal Sydney to join Smith and Hall at 12-under 276 after 72 holes, forcing a three-way playoff.

He was tied with Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas, who shot a second-round 66.

“Playing in The Open at St Andrews last year and the Olympics this year, granted I wasn’t in this position, hopefully I can draw from those experiences and be nice and relaxed and go out and have some fun tomorrow”, 29-year-old Fox said.

Spieth carded five front-nine birdies but lost momentum with a three-putt double bogey at the par-four 15th.

Jordan Spieth opened the 2016 Emirates Australian Open with a 3-under 69 and is T-8 after 18 holes at Royal Sydney Golf Club.

“I haven’t practiced”, said Spieth on his putting.

“The reason we shot 63 wasn’t because we went out that day trying to shoot 63, it was because we went out, we were patient, recognised that other people were going to make moves but at the same time, if you’re playing a risk game, I’m going to play to my strengths”. But how can you argue with coming here and gaining the confidence that we’ve had out of this event? “Much like Australian golf, you can bounce the ball around a little bit, so I don’t think it’s any secret why Aussies have done pretty good in the past at the Open”.

“I saw where Geoff finished and I thought, “if I can get to nine [under] I’ll be within two and maybe in the final group”.

Two-time champion Baddeley, former world No. 1 Spieth and New Zealander Ryan Fox will go into the last round tied at 9-under, two shots behind Ogilvy while recent PGA Tour victor Pampling is a shot further back at 208 — 8-under after 54 holes.

“I’ve cut out a lot of overseas travel this year but we still came here because that’s how important this event is to us”. While the 23-year-old Smith has already made four starts in majors, including a T-4 finish at the 2015 U.S. Open, this will mark his first appearance in golf’s oldest major.

“The best I ever hit it was not Hawaii previous year when I kind of ran away with it”. In a series of tweets, Herbert pointed out he had been featured in promotional footage for the tournament and said he’d be willing to sleep in the carpark again “to get the vibes back” from 2014. “I’m going to take that going forward”.