Jordan Spieth wins 2017 Open Championship in historic fashion

Jordan Spieth took himself almost all the way out of the Open, then turned on the jets to claim the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale

You could use any number of adjectives to describe Jordan Spieth on Sunday at the Open Championship. Aggressive. Wild. Loose. Frankly, crazy. But the most important description is the one that will last forever.

Champion.

Spieth came into Sunday’s final round at Royal Birkdale with three-shot cushion over Matt Kuchar. During the first 13 holes, he did nearly everything he could to give it all away. Suddenly, social media was abuzz with reminders of his 12th hole collapse at the Masters. But where the Augusta fall was basically a single, stinging shot, this felt like a drawn-out beating, with the ending inevitable.

With three bogeys in his first four holes, Spieth’s seemingly-insurmountable lead was gone within an hour. Matt Kuchar, always the steady hand, stayed level through the front nine, and the two made the turn tied at eight-under for the tournament.

Spieth’s wild 13th hole turned the tide for both contenders

Other than Spieth raising the Claret Jug, there may not be an image more memorable from this Open than what happened on No. 13.

Spieth, still tied with Kuchar, hit a wayward drive far right of the fairway, seemingly out of play. With the choice to go back to the tee box and drive again, Spieth elected instead to take an unplayable lie penalty. That allowed him to take a one-stroke penalty and drop the ball on the same line, no closer to the hole. What followed is the stuff of legend.

In a controversial decision – but one completely allowed by the Rules of Golf – Spieth, a rules official and caddie Michael Greller worked to determine a location where the ball could be put into play. Spieth wound up walking among the tour equipment vans on the driving range. It was a 20-minute escapade that gave us shots like this:

For most players – mortals, to be sure – the wheels would have fallen off completely at this point. Kuchar even took a knee in the fairway, having just knocked his approach to about 20 feet. But Spieth made his recovery shot, and it was clearly the tide-changing moment of the tournament.

Spieth nearly aced the 14th hole, and played the next four holes in a combined five-under par. In the blink of an eye, he went from out of the tournament, back to the champion marching to victory.

Matt Kuchar stuck with Spieth, but it was just too much to overcome

Hopefully not forgotten in this dramatic finale is just how well Matt Kuchar played, not just on

Sunday but all week. He led the field in birdies with 19, and made just four bogeys in total on the back nine. It would have been easy for him to crumble on Sunday, from the delay on No. 13 to every ridiculous shot Spieth hit after that.

At 39 years old, Kuchar will unfortunately remain in that dreaded conversation of “best player without a major” for a few more weeks, at least. But frankly, were it not for his steadiness in the face of Spieth’s near-collapse, we may not have had quite as exciting of a finish as the one we got.

The second-place finish may be a tough one to swallow, but Kuchar was a model of sportsmanship throughout. He will get his one day, but even if he doesn’t, his is the type of game so many should model themselves after.

History in the making for Spieth this year?

With this wire-to-wire victory, Spieth, who turns 24 on Thursday (mind-blowing, I know…), is now three-quarters of the way to the career Grand Slam. He’ll get his shot just in just over two weeks, when the PGA Championship heads to Quail Hollow.

If he can complete the feat in North Carolina, he would edge out Tiger Woods as the youngest player to win all four modern major titles. Woods was 24 years, seven months old when he won the 2000 Open Championship at St. Andrews. Think the Tiger comparisons were bad before? Just wait until we see what could happen then.

The final battle between Spieth and Kuchar may not live up to the incredible level of play that we saw from Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson last year at Troon, or the “Duel in the Sun” between Nicklaus and Tom Watson in 1977 at Turnberry. But there’s no doubt, it will last forever in golf history.

Next: Ten Takeaways from the 2017 Open Championship

Jordan Spieth – your 2017 Champion Golfer of the Year.