Jordan Spieth came through a playoff against fellow Americans Sean O’Hair and Patrick Reed to win the Valspar Championship at Innnisbrook in Florida.
Jordan Spieth came through a playoff against fellow Americans Sean O’Hair and Patrick Reed to win the Valspar Championship at Innnisbrook in Florida.
Spieth holed a 30-foot birdie putt at the third extra hole to see off his playoff rivals and claim a second official PGA Tour title. He has climbed to a career-high of Number six on the Official World Golf Ranking.
Spieth was three shots behind Ryan Moore with just six holes of the final round to play. But, while Moore faltered with three dropped shots coming down the stretch, Spieth rallied with two birdies then a series of incredible par saves.
On the 16th he escaped with par from a horrible position in the greenside bunker. A flop-shot from the deep rough and a clutch putt on the 17th kept him in a tie for the lead and another testing putt on the 72nd hole saw him make the playoff on a 72-hole total of 10-under-par.
“It was a crazy back nine,” Spieth said.
Patrick Reed was the first man to post 10-under. He holed a long birdie putt on the 72nd green for a fine closing round of 66.
Sean O’Hair then matched Reed’s four-round total after a great par save on the 18th and a final round of 67.
When Spieth also saved par on the last, there was three in the playoff. All three men made pars on the first two extra holes before Spieth took the title with a great putt on the third sudden-death hole.
The 21-year-old joins Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Robert Gamez as the only players since 1940 to claim two PGA Tour titles before their 22nd birthday. Spieth has aspirations to kick on from the victory.
“Right now currently and what I'm really focused on is Rory McIlroy is No. 1 in the world. That's who everyone is trying to chase,” he said. “That's our ultimate goal is to eventually, you know, be the best in the world and this is a great, great stepping stone. But going into the four majors of the year, to have closed one out in this kind of fashion is going to give me a lot of confidence.”
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson posted an excellent final round of 67 to end the week alone in 4th place. Brian Davis was the leading Brit in a tie for 10th, Lee Westwood was one shot further back in a tie for 17th.
Valspar Championship Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead,) Palm Harbor, Florida Mar 12-15, purse: $5,900,000, par: 71
1 Jordan Spieth (USA) 70 67 68 69 274 $1,062,000 T2 Sean O’Hair (USA) 66 72 69 67 274 $519,200 T2 Patrick Reed (USA) 72 68 68 66 274 $519,200 4 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 70 71 67 275 $283,200 5 Ryan Moore (USA) 69 68 67 72 276 $236,000 6 Troy Merritt (USA) 72 69 71 66 278 $212,400 T7 Danny Lee (NZ) 72 69 71 67 279 $183,883 T7 Luke Guthrie (USA) 68 73 70 68 279 $183,883 T7 Jason Kokrak (USA) 68 73 70 68 279 $183,883
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage
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