ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- Just before 8 p.m. Monday, Jordan Spieth wove his way through the crowd around the 18th green at the Old Course. The scrum was heavy, and Spieth bumped into a photographer's elbow before skipping around a golf official wearing a suit. Finally, he looked up and smiled.
"Zach!" Spieth called out, and a few seconds later he wrapped Zach Johnson in a tight embrace.
This was supposed to be Spieth's tournament, Spieth's week, Spieth's year. It was supposed to be Spieth etching his place in golf's history. But after a long four rounds over a long five days at the British Open, Johnson's eyes were the ones that were wet with joyful tears, and there was only one thing left for Spieth to do: He gave Johnson a hug and stepped aside.
It might not have been the ending so many golf fans dreamed about; even Johnson could understand that. Spieth, golf's sudden star at 21, came here having won the Masters and the U.S. Open, and the possibility of his claiming the third leg of the Grand Slam was tantalizing.
Yet in the end, Spieth came up one shot shy of Johnson, who blistered the ancient links for a 66 to finish at 15 under par before winning a three-man playoff over Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen to claim the second major of his career.
"You know, I never really thought I'd win one," said Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion. "I'm a little bit in shock."
His astonishment was understandable, though in a week full of memorable shots, Johnson provided the most dramatic of all. Starting the day at 9 under, he had gone off an hour ahead of the final group. He did not know for sure that he needed to make a birdie on his last hole of regulation to have a chance. But, given what was going on around him, Johnson was all but certain a par would leave him short of a playoff.
Faced with a 30-foot putt down the hill, Johnson peered at the line and then rolled his ball perfectly, crouching as he pumped his fist once it disappeared into the hole. His caddie, Damon Green, did a chicken dance toward the cup, and the fans packed around the final hole roared. Johnson glided to the scoring tent and, eight years after he won his first major, he was the clubhouse leader waiting to see what was yet to come.
"I did all I could do," Johnson told Green.
What followed was in keeping with the theme of the week. This was a spectacle of a major, an Open full of birdies and brilliance, but also one teeming with the bizarre and unexpected.
Two legends, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo, said farewell. The 36-hole leader, Dustin Johnson, vanished in the final two rounds after a pair of 75s. Rain and wind played havoc with the schedule over the first three days, forcing only the second Monday finish in British Open history. In between the rain drops and wind gusts, the course seemed to alternate between something akin to a beast and something more like a dart board.
Monday, naturally, brought a little bit of all of it. It felt as if everyone was on the first page of the leaderboard at one point or another, as players rose, then fell, then rose, then fell again. Zach Johnson was one of eight players to hold at least a share of the lead in the final round, though once he had completed his eight-birdie, two-bogey performance, he actually trailed Leishman, an imposing Australian, by a stroke.
At that point, five players could have won: Leishman, Johnson, Spieth (who was 14 under), Jason Day (14 under) and Oosthuizen (14 under). Leishman, who made the cut by a single shot and proceeded to shoot 64 in the third round to vault into contention, was 7 under on his round and 16 under for the tournament as Johnson settled in to watch.
But Leishman also had yet to navigate all of the difficult closing stretch of the Old Course, and a bogey on No. 16 dropped him back level with Johnson. Leishman nearly holed an 80-foot birdie putt on No. 17 that would have put him back in front, but it just slipped by and he parred No. 18 to shoot 64-66 in the last two rounds and finish at 15 under as well.
"To be honest," Leishman said afterward, "I've never put four really good rounds together like that."
The tension was far from over. Day and Spieth were playing together, and they came to the last hole hoping to get into the playoff, too. Spieth had bogeyed the infamous Road Hole, No. 17, and drove way left off the 18th tee. That left him at an awkward yardage, and his approach spun back into the hollow short of the green known as the Valley of Sin. His putt rolled up, but was always going wide. Day, from much closer, pitched safely past the hole, but then watched in disbelief as his birdie putt stopped short.
Day appeared crushed. He was hardly alone in missing out, of course. Paul Dunne, the Irish amateur who captivated the crowds Sunday by grabbing a share of the 54-hole lead, fell back to a 78 on Monday. Sergio Garcia made a run but shot 38 on the back nine, and Padraig Harrington got to 13 under early in his round only to make two double bogeys and slip away. Adam Scott reached 15 under after six birdies on his first 10 holes, but he was 5 over on the last five holes.
But if anyone was going to feel as disappointed as Spieth, it was Day. He has nine top-10 finishes in 20 career major tournaments without a victory, and, after watching his putt stop a few rolls before the cup, he cradled his head in his hands.
"I just really want to have that shot at immortality," Day said.
Instead it was Johnson, Leishman and, finally, Oosthuizen who had that opportunity. Oosthuizen, a South African who won the Open here in 2010, made his 6-foot birdie putt on 18 to finish at 15 under as well. In the four-hole aggregate playoff, Leishman fell behind quickly after a drive into a divot on No. 1 led to a long approach and a three-putt bogey while Johnson and Oosthuizen birdied.
Johnson separated himself on No. 2 with another smooth birdie putt from 20 feet, and all three players bogeyed the Road Hole. That left Johnson with a one-shot lead as they drove off No. 18, and after Leishman made a par, Johnson just missed a birdie putt that would have won it. He settled for par.
As Oosthuizen stalked his own birdie putt that would have extended the playoff to sudden death, Johnson stood to the side of the green reciting a Bible verse. When Oosthuizen's putt slid past, Johnson did not move at first, his face glazed over as if he could not believe what had happened.
Moments later, in the crush of well-wishers, Spieth, 18 years younger than Johnson, told the champion that he was proud of him.
After one final pat on the shoulder, they parted. Johnson, as if in a daze, staggered toward the back of the green to prepare for the trophy ceremony. Spieth, finally beaten in a major, took one last look at the grandstand before he turned and walked toward the parking lot.
Sports on 07/21/2015