Jordan Spieth Shoots 66, Looking To Win The Open Championship
Jordan Spieth is knocking on the doors of history this week at the 144th Open Championship. After firing a solid third round 66, Spieth vaulted up the leaderboard to 11-under par, and enters the final round only a single shot behind leaders Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen, and Paul Dunne. With a victory here this week at the British Open, Spieth will become the first player in nearly half a century to win the first three majors in a calendar year and keep his Grand Slam hopes alive.
Under ideal scoring conditions on Sunday at St. Andrews, the 21-year- old golfing sensation carded seven birdies, including a stretch of three consecutive birdies on his inward nine. His only blemish came at the ninth were he missed a short four foot putt for par and made bogey. According to stats provided by the British Open’s website, Spieth hit 81 percent of his fairways and 78 percent of his greens, while only needing 27 putts to get the ball in the hole.
After completing play on Sunday, Jordan spoke to the media and commented on his game plan heading into Monday’s final round, saying that he was playing to win.
“At this point it’s free rolling. I’m going to play to win — I’m not playing for a place. I don’t want to place third tomorrow. I want to win. I’m going to play my game, obviously with patience, to stay in the mix if it’s not all there in the beginning. And if it is, I’m going to continue to play that way to try and get out in front. Just trying to give myself as many chances as I can.”
Even with the enormity of the task before him, Spieth seems calm and collected, expressing a demeanor that is well beyond his young age. He knows he has a chance to make history, yet he’s still composed enough to focus on one shot at a time until the very last putt. We all saw him handle the pressure at Augusta National at the Masters, and we saw him do it once again just last month at the U.S. Open. Now, Jordan will be standing on perhaps the greatest stage in golf at St. Andrews, the home of golf, and come Monday afternoon if he can raise the Claret Jug in victory, then the golfing world will have witnessed one of the few rare moments of history repeating itself.
Spieth will tee off in the second to last pairing Monday afternoon, and only 18 holes separate the young 21-year-old from claiming his third major championship and accomplishing one of the greatest feats in golfing history.
[Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images]
