Open Championship
 

Did anyone else watch this today? A truly remarkable finish by Spieth when it looked like he was about to give another major away. 5 under in 4 holes, 14-17, to win. One for the ages.

Historic and clutch performance, to be sure. One of 8 golfers to ever win a Masters, US and British Open. On his way to being an all-time great!

He was only one shot down, I wouldn't rank it with some of the incredible Sunday back 9 comebacks I have seen like Nicklaus at the 86 Masters for example and I am sure there are many more just not recalling them at this moment.

Yes it certainly wasn't the greatest comeback in the history of golf. But given the context of what happened in the Masters and losing a 3 shot lead made it very impressive, to me. 13 could have been much worse, but a bogey was salvaged. Then birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie.

That 4 hole stretch to win a major is the stuff legends are made of.

Yeah it was a great performance, not suggesting otherwise. And yeah sometimes saving bogey is just as important as that birdie putt.

Arnie was 7 shots back at the start of the final round of the 1960 US Open lol. Insane.

That is amazing. Probably took a few guys playing less than their best, along with a heck of a round from Arnold. Sounds like a fun one to watch on a classic sports network.

I think when his career is over Spieth will be right up there with guys like Palmer, Nicklaus, and Woods. And this performance will be on the career highlight reel.

A couple of those guys were named Nicklaus and Hogan. The thing is he won by 2 so it was a 9 shot swing. He hit the turn in 30.

I think there was a British Open winner who came back from 10 down will have to look it up.

I just read up on it. Nicklaus was an amateur and had the lead mid round but faded. They had it on the top 10 memorable majors. Along with the 66 US open in which Palmer had a 7 shot lead with 9 to play and lost to Billy Casper in a playoff.

This one may not make the top 10 list, but I will remember it.

Check out the 1986 Masters. Nicklaus shot a 30 on the back 9. I forget how many shots he was behind at the turn but it was at least several. And, he was 46.

That one I'm familiar with. Arguably the greatest major performance by a champion whose record may never be broken. As great as Spieth looked today 18 is a long way away. Not to mention the 19 second place finishes.

Keep in mind he's only 23 (for 3 more days; July 27th is his birthday). At this point in his career, Nicklaus only had 3 majors as well (US Open, Masters, PGA), and Tiger only had 2. In fact, Nicklaus didn't win another until he was 25. I'm not saying Spieth is going to win 18 majors, but he's the best golfer in the world currently, and is right on pace with Nicklaus.

One thing of note regarding Spieth: what a class act he is. He loses with class, and wins with class. His parents raised a fine young man, and he is very easy to root for.

Tiger's career collapsed at 14 majors (karma). Hopefully Karma won't have to take a driver to Spieth's head and derail his career. Shouldn't have to, because Spieth is WAY more humble than Tiger EVER was.

Peter,

You did a fine job raising young Mr. Spieth, except when it comes to spelling.:eek:

He changed it to disassociate himself from me, can you blame him?

Yea he has as good a chance as anyone playing but that might end up being one of those records that never gets broken. Looked like a sure thing for woods a few years ago.

I agree with you on the class act as well. Great ambassador for the game.

1999 Open Championship


The 1999 Open Championship was the 128th Open Championship, held 15–18 July at the Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland.

Paul Lawrie won his only major championship in a playoff over Jean van de Velde and Justin Leonard.[2] Lawrie, down by ten strokes at the start of the fourth round,[3] completed the biggest final round comeback in major championship history,[4][5] headlined by van de Velde's triple-bogey at the last hole.[6]

Peter I actually watched that one. I think it's more remembered for van de velde's epic collapse than it is for Lawrie's victory. Double bogey to win and posts a triple. Even tin cup would have laid up on that second shot.

Yeah it's up there with the Sands of Nakajima. Just epic. I cannot imagine many guys have lost a tournament on the 18th hole with a triple bogey. I suppose it would have been a real miracle if despite that he pulled himself together and won the playoff. But that wasn't going to happen any more than Watson was going to win a playoff after blowing a two stroke lead on 18. Still a pretty amazing final round by Lawrie considering where he started the day.

Norman had a 6 shot lead in the final round of the 1996 Masters and lost to Faldo. That was painful to watch.

Yeah and Norman lost to Faldo by 5 shots. Faldo shot 67 and Norman 78.

Watson needed a par 4 to win at Turnberry in 2009 and made a bogey 5.

Michelson had the US Open at Winged Foot won but made a 6 on 18 to hand it to Geoff Ogilvy. That was painful.

Watson had a very makeable birdie putt, and a relatively easy comebacker for par, either of which would have given him perhaps the most remarkable golf victory of all time, a major at age 59. It's almost unfathomable that he was where he was. But in the end, he could not defeat time, just make it stand still for a little while I guess.

It would have been awesome had he won. His second shot on 18 was struck perfectly, and according to many (including Tom) landed about one yard too far or it would have ended up right next to the flag - easy two putt par for the win. Instead it just had a little too much roll and rolled just off the slope at the back of the green, making it a difficult up and down that unfortunately he couldn't pull off.

I could be wrong but I don't recall it being a particularly difficult up and down, except perhaps for the circumstances. But even so it was a remarkable and mind-boggling thing, at age 59 -- an absurd 32 years after the duel in the sun with Nicklaus -- he had absolutely no business putting to win the British Open. Nicklaus had finished 5th in the 1998 (?) Masters at age 56 and that was pretty amazing too, although I don't recall him being in serious contention to win it on the back nine.