Even the best putters go through stretches where the hole looks small. Jordan Spieth admitted to feeling that way on Saturday. But winners know how to win, and on Sunday along the marshy shore of Calibogue Sound Spieth proved that he still knows how to find a way to close and collect the trophy, Tartan jacket and the seven-figure check that came with it (and pushed his career earnings over $50 million).
“I won this golf tournament without a putter,” he said.
Despite his putter woes, Spieth sank the putt when it mattered most. In the shadow of a 90-foot-high, candy cane-striped lighthouse rising behind the 18th green, Spieth nailed a 10-foot birdie putt at the final hole to shoot 5-under 66 at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
That was enough to overcome an embarrassing miss from 18 inches the day before, finish at 13-under 271 and return to 18 and make a par at the first playoff hole to defeat Patrick Cantlay and win the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage.
Spieth, 28, earned his 13th PGA Tour title and first as a father. When Cantlay’s 35-foot putt to extend the playoff sailed by, Spieth’s wife Annie rushed on the green with son Sammy in tow to celebrate as a family.
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It was an unlikely win after Spieth struggled with the short stick on Saturday, making just 29 total feet of putts in the third round and nothing longer than 3 feet. To make matters worse, he missed that tap-in par putt at the last and entered the final round trailing by three strokes.
“I was about as upset after the round yesterday as I’ve ever been in a golf tournament. There’s just no excuse for those kind of brain farts as a professional to myself, but also to Michael, who’s working his butt off, to go out there and do that that could potentially affect the outcome of a tournament,” he said.
It was shades of a similar miscue to end the third round of last year’s British Open, where he finished second to Collin Morikawa. This one lingered in his head, too, and he attributed a tip from his wife of all people, who he said never comments on his golf, for helping him in crunch time.
“You need to take five seconds,” she told her husband, before knocking in any tap-in putts.
“There was a couple times I was just going to rake it, and I was like, no, I’ve got to take five seconds,” Spieth recalled.
He was still smarting over the wasted shot in the morning, but he resolved to make up for it and did so quickly by making eagles at two of the first five holes. First, he holed a bunker shot at the par-5 second and then followed by draining a curling 24-foot putt at the fifth. His putting mantra for the final round appeared to be working. “I’m not going to leave one putt short. And if they miss, they miss, and just try to be a little bit more aggressive,” he said.
Magic with a wedge.
Eagle to move one shot back for @JordanSpieth 💪 pic.twitter.com/hdA67HQnLo
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 17, 2022
Just when it looked as if Spieth might be off to the races, he drove up against the lip of a greenside bunker at the ninth hole, had to play out sideways and missed a 5-foot par putt. When he was too aggressive with his birdie putt at the 11th, Spieth missed the comebacker from 5 feet to drop to 11 under. Renowned for his putting, Spieth’s strength of his game seemingly has abandoned him this season. He entered the week ranked 180th on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting this season.
“It’s striking to see him struggle with the putter,” CBS Sports analyst Dottie Pepper said before Spieth attempted a 13-foot birdie putt. “It’s something I think we all took for granted and he may have too, working so hard on the golf swing.”
Despite still working through a swing change that includes an unusual pre-shot routine, Spieth’s ball-striking has been brilliant, as he led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green for the second time in the last three weeks.
“The fact that I can hit it this well for four days consistently and not rely on a putter to win a tournament is a good feeling,” he said.
So many players had a shot at the title on Sunday, but Spieth dodged one pursuer after another. Four were tied at 13 under early in the back nine and at one time nine players were within a stroke of the lead. Erik Van Rooyen was the first player to reach 14 under with a birdie at the ninth but he faded with four bogeys on the back nine and finished at 11 under.
Shane Lowry climbed to 14 under after a 20-foot birdie putt at 11 and gained a two-stroke edge. He had gone 25 consecutive holes without dropping a shot before chipping into the water at the 14th and making a double bogey. Lowry ran out of birdies over the closing stretch and shot 69 to tie for third. Third-round leader Harold Varner III failed to make a birdie on the back nine, including a miss from 35 feet to join the playoff, and shot 70.
Spieth had the solo lead at 13 under after his birdie at the last but it didn’t seem as if it would be enough, especially after Sepp Straka tied for the lead when he drilled a 35-foot birdie putt at 17. But Straka made a sloppy bogey at the last and fell back into a seven-way tie for third.
Only Cantlay, the reigning FedEx Cup champion, managed to tie Spieth with a 9-foot birdie at the par-3 17th hole and had a 13-foot birdie putt at the last for the win that missed to the right. He signed for a final-round 3-under 68.
On the first playoff hole, both players hit into the front greenside bunker at 18. Fittingly, Spieth escaped to inches, took his five seconds to tap in for par. There would be no drama for him on the same green where he had seemingly cost himself a vital stroke if not the tournament the day before. Cantlay was doomed by a plugged lie and exploded to 35 feet and missed the putt.
“With it plugged like that, it’s darn near impossible to get it close,” he said.
More bunker brilliance by @JordanSpieth in a playoff.
This approach on the first playoff hole sealed the victory @RBC_Heritage. pic.twitter.com/ghI8arP11P
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 17, 2022
One week after missing the cut at the Masters, where he won in 2015 and is perennially in the hunt, Spieth was a winner again.
“I never missed a cut at the Masters before and very rarely had not had a chance to win on the weekend. So I hated it,” he said. “It was the worst feeling. It was the worst feeling as a golfer that I can remember.”
First win as a father ❤️@JordanSpieth pic.twitter.com/jDBBJNMiDR
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 17, 2022
That seemed a distant memory when he was celebrating on the 18th green at Harbour Town after claiming his first title since the 2021 Valero Texas Open, which also happened to conclude on Easter Sunday. Asked if he knew what tournament would finish on Easter Sunday next year, Spieth answered, “I guess Augusta (site of the Masters). That’s good vibes.”
So is winning without a putter.
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