South African Oosthuizen closing in on runner-up Grand Slam

South Africa’ Louis Oosthuizen drives the ball off the fourth tee in the final round of the British Open at the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland, on Monday.

Jordan Spieth admitted he was hurting after his bid for an unprecedented calendar grand slam ended in a near miss at the Open Championship.

The miss dropped Spieth to -14, only one off the lead, but put a ton of pressure on him to birdie the final hole and make the playoff a four-man race.

Spieth hung around for the playoff, and walked out to the course to give Johnson a hug before the 39-year-old received the silver claret jug.

The history books will say Zach Johnson won the 2015 British Open in a playoff – but those of the higher consciousness know he really won the tournament back on the 18th hole, when Green unleashed that funky birdie shimmy.

Johnson grabbed a birdie with a long putt on the 18th to finish the fourth round with a 6-under 66, while Leishman also carded 66 with a par putt on the last hole. It was an emotional win for Johnson, who choked back tears while trying to answer media questions. Johnson joins some elite company as the only players to win the Masters and the Open at St. Andrews: Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead. It’s rare to find a player who can marry the physical and mental skills required to win major golf tournaments for years at a time; it happens maybe once in a generation, and the problem is that even among players of that stature, it comes and goes with cosmic impunity. I’m humbled by this.

Speaking after winning today, Johnson said: “I feel blessed to be the champion, I feel honoured to be part of the history of this game and to don my name on that trophy, especially with the names before me”. But I do know that this is the birthplace of a great game and a place that has fantastic fans. I just made a mental mistake on number eight and it seemed to have cost me as well as on 18, just not giving myself a chance.

Jordan Spieth was the talk of the golf world going into the final round of the British Open.

The force was with the 2010 St Andrews champion and he drew first blood in the play-off, birdieing the first, but Johnson responded in kind.

It was the first British Open to end on Monday since 1988 because of a brief rain delay Friday morning and 10½-hour wind delay on Saturday. He also topped off each round with a birdie on 18 – including a clutch 25-footer on the 72nd hole to earn a spot in the playoff – for a cumulative score of 20-under par on those 11 holes. Then he holed a monster putt from 50 feet on 16 to get into a share of the lead. He won at Augusta in 2007 by laying back at all the par fives and wedging close enough to birdie a lot of them.

The Open is likely to be held at St Andrews again for the 150th edition of golf’s oldest major in 2021. Paul Dunne, the 21-year-old Irishman bidding to become the first amateur since Bobby Jones in 1930 to win the claret jug, started bogey-bogey and closed with a 78.

For the third time in his career – and second time in a month – the South African was runner-up in a major championship.

“When you hit into these traps and get bitten, you realise how far you have to hit to stay away from them”.