Spieth wins the Australian Open with closing birdie blitz

Post from Sports Writer Derek Clements

JORDAN SPIETH has looked like winning tournaments all year long but he arrived in Australia without a victory to his name in 2014.

One year ago, Rory McIlroy turned up in Australia with his confidence at rock bottom. After a miserable year, he was desperate to win a tournament, any tournament.

He played reasonably well at the Australian Open, but local hero Adam Scott, going for a clean sweep of all his country's major tournaments, clearly took pity on the boy from Northern Ireland and handed him the title on a plate. McIlroy didn't care - it was a win. And it turned out to be the kick-start to the best year of his young life.

When he returned to Australia, it seemed like he was on course to successfully defend the title after opening with two rounds of 69. But then came a third round that he will already have removed from his memory banks. And all hope was extinguished.

Astonishingly, however, this year's tournament did the same thing for another young gun that it did for McIlroy in 2013. Spieth, the 21-year-old American sensation, has seemingly contended just about every week in 2014, and came pretty close to winning The Masters. He comfortably made the US Ryder Cup team, but he hadn't been able to close out a victory.

Spieth badly needed a win, for his confidence and for his peace of mind. With America looking for a new golfing hero, the young man has been under intense pressure all year and, although he would never admit it, it has clearly affected his game. He just seems to have been trying to hard.

But he won a whole new army of fans with a stellar performance in the final round of the Australian Open at Sydney. Spieth shattered the course record at The Australian with a spectacular closing round of 63, finishing six shots ahead of Rod Pampling, and leaving McIlroy and Scott way, way behind.

The American described it as the best round of golf he has ever played. At just 21, you can be sure there will be many more ahead. He also promised to return to defend the title

"Yes, I'm certainly coming back to Australia,'' he said. "I've had an unbelievable time this week, on the course, off the course. Michael (Greller, his caddie) took his wife to the Nutcracker last night and he said it was an unbelievable experience. We made the most of our trip given the afternoons were spent playing golf. I'll certainly be back.''

Spieth started out in a tie for the lead and made four birdies in the first seven holes including three on the trot from the fifth to the seventh. By the time he reached the 12th he saw a leaderboard and knew that he had the lead by a few shots.

He and Greller devised a conservative strategy to protect the lead, but Spieth kept rolling birdie putts in. "I just wanted to keep my head down and focus on my putts. At 11, there's one as you walk to 12 tee box, so at that point I'd had four good par-saves. Really I would say the reason I won today was eight through 11, digging in and playing those even-par. I looked up and saw I had four or five (shots in the lead) at the time and I thought I maybe needed to change strategy a little bit. That's what we did and it actually led to four more birdies somehow.''

Despite picking up four more birdies, including two at the last two holes, Spieth says he still has a huge amount of work to do if he is ever to achieve his goal of replacing McIlroy at the top of the world rankings.

"I think I'm very far away. This week was big because I was able to close it out. I felt the pressure, I felt the nerves and performed the best I've ever performed," he said. "There's a big difference between playing great and coming up just short and closing out a tournament. It just feels completely different.  In order to do this in majors, it's going to take a lot more than this week, with no disrespect to this championship. Major championships dwell on your mind more than any other tournament.''

Scott carded an even-par 71 to finish fifth, and he was impressed with Spieth's ability to score in tricky winds. "Yes it is surprising but we're talking about one of the best players in the world and when things go your way, there's almost no limit to what guys can shoot,'' said Scott. "Driving it long and straight, Jordan's wedge game is great and he putts well. I watched him hole everything for a couple of days, the first two rounds.

"Anything's kind of possible the way the game is today. He's proven it. He's a top 20 player consistently, and I think he needs to surge. He needs to push himself because you don't know how many chances you'll get, getting to that level. He's got to push himself and expect a lot.''

Pampling birdied five of the last six holes to finish second.

In the cool light of the evening, Spieth was happy to scan the names on the trophy. "I didn't realise Gary Player won it seven times and Jack (Nicklaus) won it six, plus the more recent names of Adam and Rory. Hall-of-famers, that's what I think of when I see this trophy and you don't see that often on a trophy. It's really cool that my name will go on here and I'll get to keep this trophy ... maybe not this one, but a replica!''

Image credit - Gary Player Twitter

Derek Clements is a sports journalist with a particular passion for golf with over 12 years of experience covering golf and other sports including Chief Sub-Editor on the sports desk of The Sunday Times. To contact Derek email direct via [email protected]