Jordan Spieth is officially back in the winner’s circle as he stopped Charley Hoffman from winning the Valero Texas Open on Sunday at TPC San Antonio. Here’s everything you need to know:
Scoreboard: Jordan Spieth (-18), Charley Hoffman (-16), Matt Wallace (-15), Lucas Glover (-12), Anirban Lahiri (-10)
What it means: Nearly four years and 83 starts since his last PGA Tour win – or any win – Spieth is a champion again. Looking in vintage form, he finished with a cool and confident 6-under-66, and turned his Tour-best third 54-hole lead of the season into his first win since the 2017 Open Championship. now a win in his last seven starts, Spieth is heading into this week’s Masters tournament with good momentum this week and will try to win his second green jacket as he becomes the fifth player – and first since Phil Mickelson in 2006 – to win. at Augusta National after also winning last week’s Tour event.
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How it happened: Spieth came in on the standings on Sunday with Wallace 12 under and two shots ahead of Hoffman. At first, Spieth looked a little nervous, hitting a few quirky tee balls in the first few holes and birdie on the par-5 second despite not hitting a shot from the fairway. However, those nerves were short lived. Spieth never lost the lead and got things started by nearly making an ace at the 174-yard, par-3 third. He made the 2-footer, one of his four front-nine birdies, to take his first solo lead of the day and never looked back.
“I actually felt very light,” he said afterwards. “I felt like I just wanted to come out and smile, try to have some fun. That was kind of a challenge for me on these Sundays when I was in battle.”
Spieth details ‘long way’ to first win since 2017
After years of fighting his swing, Spieth hit clutch shots all over the piece, looking particularly sharp with his wedges as he faced challenge after challenge from Hoffman, the tournament’s all-time money winner who fought for a ticket to Augusta National. shook off. When Hoffman sank a 20-footer on the par-3 16th to get inside a shot from Spieth for the third time on the final lap, Spieth stepped onto the next tee and drove to within 75 yards on the 366 yards, par- 4th 17th to do another birdie and get back to two distance from Hoffman. And because Spieth always finds a way to make it interesting, he hooked an 8-iron in the rough – and barely over a video scoreboard – while on the par-5 finish hole, but managed to escape with par and win with two.
Tour of the day: Patton Kizzire went bogey-free with seven birdies to shoot 65 and get his fourth finish of T-11 or better this season.
Shot of the day: Spieth hit some nice wedge shots on the back nine to set up important birdies, but the tee ball on number 3 was the spark to his final round.
Biggest Disappointment: Wallace. Spieth and Hoffman turned the finish line into a two-man show as the Englishman, who closed in 69 thanks to closing three consecutive birdies, was essentially just a spectator in the final trio.
Quote of the day: ‘Man, it’s been a long way. There were often times when I wasn’t sure I was going to talk to you here [Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis] about this now. I never really doubted myself to be able to get back to where I wanted to go, but when you often lose faith, it’s hard to foresee the positive. … This is a monumental victory for me. It’s one that I’ve definitely thought about for a long time. ” Spieth