Jordan Spieth caps stunning season with FedEx Cup victory

Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements

PGA Tour

JORDAN SPIETH capped a remarkable season with victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake and, with it, the 22-year-old American won the FedEx Cup and the $10m bonus that goes with it.

He has won The Masters and the US Open, finished second at the US PGA championship and was one shot off a playoff at The Open and this achievement simply crowns it all and ensures that he will be named PGA Tour Player of the Year. How could he not be?

At the start of the day, Spieth led Henrik Stenson by a single shot but he broke the Swede’s heart with the most incredible putting display that your correspondent has ever seen. In truth, he didn’t play great golf, but every time he stood over a putt you just knew that he was going to hole it.

Highlights from the final round of the Tour Championship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md3_01LIVzs

Stenson had the stuffing knocked out of him. He missed a couple of birdie putts that would have made a huge difference and shook his head in disbelief at some of Spieth’s incredible escapes. It all finished for Stenson at the 17th when, needing a birdie to put pressure on  the American, he shanked his approach and then three-putted. At the same hole, Spieth rammed home yet another eight-footer for par.

Stenson gained some consolation at the last when he holed a monstrous putt of his own for a birdie two. It took him back to five under for the tournament, tied for second place with Justin Rose and Danny Lee.  Spieth seemed certain to drop a shot but holed yet another beauty to save his par.

He finished with a 69 and a total of nine under par to sew up his fifth win of the year and return to the top of the world rankings – remember that he missed the cut at the first two FedEx Cup Playoff events. Incredibly, he took his prize-money for the season to, wait for it, $22m.

Rose stormed through the field with a final round of 66 that would have been even better had it not been for a double-bogey at the 10th and a bogey at the 17th. Fellow Englishman Paul Casey was a shot further behind. But for Rory McIlroy it was a day, a tournament and a season to forget. A triple-bogey seven at the 17th completed his misery. At least he can now head back to Europe and try to get his game back into shape for the conclusion of the Race to Dubai. One thing is certain – we can look forward to a fantastic tussle in 2016 between Spieth, McIlroy and Jason Day.

European Tour 

THONGCHAI JAIDEE  holed a magnificent pressure putt to save par on the final green and win the European Open in Germany to win by a single shot. There was a ding-dong battle between Jaidee and Graeme Storm all day long but the Thai came out on top to record his seventh victory on the European Tour.

Storm holed a terrific putt of his own at the 18th green to save par. It meant he finished on 16 under par and with Jaidee one ahead playing the final hole it guaranteed that the Englishman would finish no worse than second, ensuring he keeps his card for next season.

It was a magnificent way to finish. He had missed a short birdie putt at the 16th and dropped a shot at the par-three 17th when his ball almost found the water guarding the green. He took an iron at the 18th, pulled his approach into thick rough and then hit a poor chip. But he rammed home the 20-foot putt to finish on a high and a round of 67.

Jaidee, 45, came to the last one ahead of Storm but left himself an awkward approach. He deliberately played short of the green, hitting his ball short of the green  via a hospitality unit. It was a clever shot and left him with a simple enough task – get down in a pitch and a putt and win, or take three and head off back down the 18th for a sudden-death playoff with Storm.

Remarkarkably, this was the fourth week in a row when the players were able to take preferred lies in the fairway and Jaidee called for the referee because he wasn’t happy with his lie, claiming it had come to rest in a tyre track. The first official didn’t agree, so Jaidee called for another, who overruled the first decision and allowed him a free drop. 

He ended up with a far better lie, but could he put the ball next to the hole and save his par? The Thai golfer played a decent enough shot but left himself a testing left to right putt to win.  It was uphill, however, and he could afford to have a good run at it. And in it went. He shot a 67 and didn’t drop a shot all day.

“It was a good up and down at the last,” Jaidee said. “This is a special week for me. I putted well all week and hit my irons really well. I am absolutely delighted.”

Pelle Edberg continued his fine recent run of form, a 69 taking him to 14 under par and a third-place finish.
Ross Fisher will be bitterly disappointed to finish only joint fifth. He played brilliant golf for 48 holes but then lost momentum towards the end of his third round, and he was never able to fully recover. His final round of 71 owed a great deal to some terrific recovery shots.