Things got a bit hectic towards the end of today's final round. Zach Johnson and Marc Leishman set the playoff bar high, both shooting 66 today to get to 15-under. Johnson birdied the 18th hole to set that score and had a feeling it would be just enough if a playoff was to happen. He was right as shortly after Marc Leishman posted the same score. Johnson played an excellent round today that consisted of eight birdies and two bogeys. He definitely deserved this win.
Chasing them (a few groups back) were Jordan Spieth, who was looking for his third straight major win, Jason Day, who was looking for his first major win, and 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen, who was looking for a repeat win at the Old Course. Spieth needed a birdie on the par 4 18th to get into the playoff, but hit his second shot short and off the green. He missed the putt and the playoff chance to make history. Day hit his second shot to the middle of the green and had a long putt to make the playoff. His putt was just a couple of feet short and he too failed to get into the playoff. Day and Spieth were in the second to last group, ahead of Oosthuizen. So it all came down to Louis, who was in the same scenario as Spieth, except he hit an excellent second shot wedge to a couple of feet. He made the birdie putt and off to the playoff he went.
The playoff was a four hole aggregate, where Louis, Marc, and Zach played the 1st, 2nd, 17th and 18th. Whoever had the best combined score after the four holes won. Oosthuizen and Johnson birdied the first while Leishman bogeyed. Johnson took the lead after another birdie on the second while Oosthuizen and Leishman parred. But on the third hole, Johnson's chances of winning became slim, after hitting his second shot on the 17th way left of the green, just behind a deep greenside bunker. Oosthuizen and Leishman both were short of the green and Johnson bogeyed, as did Leishman. Oosthuizen putted for birdie but came up short, and unfortunately missed his par putt. On the final 18th hole, Oosthuizen needed a birdie to force a sudden death playoff, but missed his putt by inches. Johnson won the playoff and the Open Championship by a single shot.
As I mentioned before, this was the longest Open Championship in it's entire history, taking 5 days to complete. Regulation play ended at about 7pm local time and the playoff finished about an hour and a half later. Of course this felt even longer due to the weather delays. Today's round did have a bit of rain as predicted and it fell pretty hard on a few holes, while others remained dry. We still saw a few low scores but the scoring average was probably around 69 or 70.
The low amateur of the tournament was not Paul Dunne, who led the tournament as of yesterday. Instead, American Jordan Niebrugge (T6) was. Despite great play all weak, Dunne unfortunately shot a 78 today and finished the tournament T30.
Finally, here's how our picks finished up:
1) Dustin Johnson: T49 at 4-under
2) Rickie Fowler: T30 at 6-under
Dustin shot another 75 today and quickly fell out of contention yet again in a major. Fowler shot a 73 today and finished okay.
And just like that, this season's third major has come and gone. This concludes our coverage in Europe for now as this week we'll be covering our national open, the Canadian Open. Stay tuned for our picks on Wednesday.
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews
Zach Johnson: The 2015 Open Champion
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