Spieth eager to compensate for Open setback with more history

Zach Johnson is 39-years-old. All three made bogey on 17, again, no surprise, and after Johnson missed his birdie putt on 18, Oosthuizen had an opportunity to tie him and send the playoff to sudden death.

Leishman fell back quickly in the playoff, finishing two-over and leaving it all up to Johnson and Oosthuizen to duke it out for the British Open jug.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to return to Sydney”, he said in a statement. “Dreams have been realized and goals accomplished”.

“I’m grateful. I’m humbled”. “I had a great read”, he stated after his victory. “The rest is history”.

“I think I did really well getting in the play-off”. But I just respect and appreciate what this tournament is all about and I could go on and on about that. He had won the Masters and the U.S. Open, giving him a shot at joining Ben Hogan as the only golfers to win the first three majors of the year.

Five shots were dropped as a result of three-putting in the second round alone, while two more were squandered in a barely believable four-putt on the eighth hole on Monday, prompting Spieth to throw his ball into a gorse bush in disgust. I was really motivated to win this championship this week. “It’s never nice to lose a playoff”.

“I try to take it very seriously”. “I can’t wait for it to come back”, he admitted.

Oosthuizen, the victor at St Andrews in 2010, saved par superbly at the 17th before coolly holing a four-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

Johnson had set the clubhouse target after a closing 66 that was matched 40 minutes later by Australian Leishman, whose total of 130 for the third and fourth rounds – he carded a flawless 64 on Sunday – equalled the lowest 36-hole total in major history.

A misplaced drive on the final hole did the rest. It’s the only time the Masters victor has ever finished over par, so when conditions turned on Monday at The Open, and the course got a little windier and the rain started coming down, Johnson was in his element.

The only previous need for that scenario was in 1988 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, when Seve Ballesteros of Spain claimed the Claret Jug.

Even on Monday, it was an ill wind that conspired against Spieth.

In many ways, the Open leaderboard fluctuated just as rapidly as the weather.

Eight players had at least a share of the lead at one point.

On a tense afternoon of shadows and showers on the Old Course, Johnson closed with a 6-under 66. He shot 66. Oosthuizen saved par on the 17th with a 10-foot putt and made a 5-foot birdie on the final hole for a 69 to join the playoff. Palmer won one more Masters in 1964 and was one shot out of the lead in the U.S. Open that year until fading on the final day at Congressional.

Johnson went on the Dan Patrick Show and talked about his flight home with Spieth, as transcribed by CBS Sports.

Leishman, who lost the lead with a bogey on the 16th hole, had a birdie putt on the 18th to win that stayed left. It will come to him slowly because the 39-year-old from Iowa City is the tour’s self-effacement leader. “Spieth would have been a shocker so anyone else was a result”, said Rupert Adams, spokesman for William Hill, who already make the 21-year-old 5-1 for the US PGA. “Yeah, maybe a little bit”.

Yet Dunne’s 2015 with Alan Murray, his former UAB golf coach, was much better than one summer ago; he missed the cut. “It’s tough to swallow”.