Roller coaster Ride; Spieth by the Skin of His Teeth

The final round - indeed the final few holes of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale came down to very fine margins as Jordan Spieth snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to deny compatriot Matt Kuchar a maiden 'Major', and China's Li Haotong an unexpected victory that would surely have turned the world of golf on its head

Jordan Spieth poses for pictures with the Claret Jug

Whilst the first three-and-a-half days of the 2017 Open Championship were mostly interesting and, as when South African Branden Grace made history by becoming the first man in ‘Major,’ golf history to shoot a round of 62, truly remarkable, the 63rd to the 72nd holes of the third Grand Slam event of the season contained more super-concentrated drama than the Masters and the U.S. Open put together.

The records will show that American due Jordan Spieth led, one and two after the opening three rounds, and that’s how it all ended. But to simply record the bare statistics would be to do a grave disservice to a quite remarkable back-nine, surely amongst the most dramatic of any previous ‘Major,’ never mind an Open Championship, reminiscent of the giant roller coaster thrill ride at nearby Blackpool Pleasure Beach that dominates the Royal Birkdale horizon.

Grace became the first man in golf history to shoot a round of 62 in Major

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Written by Mike Wilson

Photography by AFP

Click here to see the published article.

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