Spieth to defend Australian Open title

The Australian bogeyed the hole while his two rivals birdied, meaning he was virtually out of the running from that point on, but Leishman took the misfortune with good grace.

Johnson had a birdie putt at the final hole to win the Claret Jug but missed.

His tally of one-under par proved enough to edge out his two playing partners and reduce a veteran of the PGA Tour to tears.

“It stings a little bit, but ultimately I thought we gave it a really good run”, Spieth said. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – the three biggest names in golf over the last 50 years – were the only other players to capture the Masters and U.S. Open in a bid to sweep the four professional majors in the same year.

Meanwhile, Open victor Johnson has explained why he wears his trademark shades – even in stormy conditions at St Andrews that resulted in the tournament stretching over five days.

“I’m humbled right now because of what’s in my lap and the names that are etched on this piece of metal”, he added.

“I don’t think that will change at all with this loss”, he said.

But he missed an 8-foot putt for par at No. 17, then failed to make a birdie at the 18th hole.

Johnson’s caddie, Damon Green, posted the picture to Facebook.

After sinking an improbable birdie putt on the 16th hole to tie Johnson and Leishman for the lead, it looked as if Spieth would use his momentum to capture the tournament. He had a birdie putt for the win that stayed wide left.

Zach Johnson went on to win the four-hole play-off against Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman and the champion paid tribute to Spieth after he was one of the first to congratulate his Ryder Cup team-mate afterwards.

It was a sweet display of sportsmanship by Spieth – and probably at least partly attributable to the contents of the jug, too.

It was some recovery, given that Oosthuizen had seemed to let his opportunity slip after blowing the overnight tied lead with a couple of bogeys midway through his final round.

Spieth, who turns 22 next week, will take the next two weeks off before returning at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He was questioned for not coming early to St. Andrews to prepare for a rare occasion of attempting the Grand Slam.

Any of the fans who endured rain and wind delays and were able to make it to St Andrews for just the second Monday finish in Open history would have been hard pressed to realise the Old Course was not Johnson’s favourite. But what a show.

Jason Day flamed out in similar fashion to miss the playoff round, and Paul Dunne was done well before he reached the 18th hole. Majority fell away.

Spieth’s three-putt par from the front of the green on 14 would have been an easy birdie had 40 mile per hour gusts not been smacking him in the face. He also putted his way into the hall of fame discussion.

Jordan Spieth blamed “mental mistakes” at the eighth, 17th and 18th for wrecking his dreams of winning three majors in a row in the British Open at St Andrews on Monday. He then claimed the US Open at Chambers Bay by one stroke last month.