Jordan Spieth secures his maiden victory at the John Deere Classic – Golf news
Jordan Spieth parred the fifth extra hole in the three-way sudden-death playoffs of the John Deere Classic, to secure his maiden professional victory, on Sunday, July 14, 2013.
The tournament was being staged at TPC Deere Run, featuring some of the best players from different parts of the world, vying for a share of $4.6 million prize fund.
Entering the final round, Spieth was sharing the ninth spot on the leaderboard, with a 13-under par overall score.
He then got off to an average start, as he was just two-under for the round through 12 holes, which was not enough to challenge his rivals on top of the leaderboard.
Thereafter, he picked up pace and birdied five of the next six holes that he played, allowing him to post a 19-under par overall score. This was enough for him to enter into the playoffs along with David Hearn and the defending champion Zach Johnson.
The first two extra holes were played on the 18th of the course, where each of them recorded par putts, before doing the same on the 16th and the 17th hole. Once again, they returned to the 18th hole, where Spieth was the only player among the trio who managed
to save the par, and took home the prestigious title.
The victory also allowed him to book his place in the Open Championship, the third major golf championship of the season, which is scheduled to start from July 18, 2013.
“My mind today is just shifting to the tournament, which you'd like it to shift a couple weeks in advance for a major championship,” Spieth said. “Your first win, that's something I'll never forget. I'm not like some of these guys with their 11th, 12th,
13th win, and it's easy to regroup.”
“For me, it's been a ton of emotions -- scheduling changing, playing in [FedEx Cup] playoffs, being in the Masters, being able to pick a schedule, my world ranking now up [No. 59] there where I can be in a lot of top events. It's hard to wrap my mind around
it all,” he added.
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