The Open Championship, held at St. Andrews, the Home of Golf, was one of the most exciting tournaments of the year. Although the tournament suffered through weather delays and had to be pushed to a Monday finish, we were able to watch some of golf’s finest put on an amazing display of skill. Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day and 22-year-old Irish amateur, Paul Dunne, entered the final round with a one shot lead at 12-under par with 14 other players within three shots of the lead including names like Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson and more.
It would be Zach Johnson who would prevail to capture his second Major Championship at The Home of Golf, winning The Open in a four-hole aggregate playoff over 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman. With this win, he now has two Majors (2007 Masters) among his 12 PGA TOUR victories.
The biggest story of the day was Jordan Spieth, who at one point was tied for the lead at 15-under par. He would bogey the 17th hole to fall back to 14-under par and needed to birdie the 72nd hole to join the playoff. He would par the hole, ending his chances at the single season grand slam. He’ll still have a chance at Whistling Straits for the PGA Championship though, so don’t count him out for three out of four in 2015!
Jason Day, who was grouped with Spieth, also needed to birdie the 72nd hole to join the playoff but would come up short to finish at 14-under par. He’s had his chances at Major Championships, so his time is definitely coming – he was even in the final group at the US Open!
Adam Scott was also in contention and reached 15-under par through 13 holes. Redemption after his Open collapse at Royal Lytham & St Annes was in sight, but his chances of winning the Claret Jug slipped away after finishing his final five holes bogey-bogey-par-bogey-double bogey. He finished at 10-under par and will have to wait for another chance next year at Royal Troon.
Dustin Johnson, who held the 36-hole lead after shooting 65-69 the first two rounds, faltered on the weekend rounds by shooting 75-75 to finish at 4-under par and T49. This seemed to be another missed opportunity for Johnson, who let the US Open slip through his fingers at Chambers Bay as well as other close calls in previous years. He’ll return to Whistling Straits where he’ll hope to come full circle at the Major Championships and breakthrough for his first win.
Other stories throughout the week at The Open included Tom Watson and his final goodbye to the Open Championship at The Home of golf as well as Sir Nick Faldo’s goodbye to The Old Course. Tiger Woods, who came off his first bogey-free round at The Greenbrier Classic, headed into The Open which was held as his favourite golf course in the world – he would miss the cut though and has dropped to world number 258. Defending champion, Rory McIlroy, was out of action after tearing ligaments in his ankle – he probably would have thrived in these softer, scoring conditions! We hope he gets healthy soon!
Overall, the 2015 Open Championship was a great tournament to watch and filled with excitement. Congratulations again to Zach Johnson, the 2015 Champion Golfer of the Year!
Source: The Open
