Day 32: G’day for Spieth Down Under, Record 63 Wins Australian Open!

The young man, who came to the golfing world officially at age 16 at the Nelson in 2010, said a low round on Sunday couldn’t be done, and then he went out and did it in American style, shooting a course record 8-under 63. Lone American amongst the top 15 golfers teeing off at The Australian Golf Club in the National Open of a great golfing island continent country, he birdied the second, then three in a row starting at No. 5 and then sprinted to the title birdieing four of the last five holes and winning by six strokes. Brett Rumford, tied with Spieth and Greg Chalmers to start the final round, matched those three consecutive birdies but could not keep up the pace to the clubhouse and shot a 70 to finish solo third. Chalmers started with a birdie and had two others that were negated with three bogeys. The lefty shot 71 and finished  in fourth place. Rod Pampling birdied five of the last six to shoot 68 and finish in solo second place.  Adam Scott double bogeyed the par-5 fifth that ignited Spieth, shot 71 and finished fifth. A good consolation prize for Pampling, Chalmers and Rumford was qualifying for the 2015 Open at St. Andrews in the first of 14 such events in nine countries on five continents.

This was Jordan Spieth’s first trip ‘Down Under’ to Australia and he enjoyed every moment of it on and off the golf course. I feel the same way on Day No. 32 of the ‘Golf Journey to Australia.’ A comment made by Troy Grant, the Deputy Premier Minister for Tourism, in the Awards Ceremony on the 18th green, that Jordan is a “credit to golf and a credit to his country,” inspired me to ask the following question in the champions’ interview:

Q.   Jordan, it seems like yesterday you were 16 and you kind of came out to the golfing world as a nelson. Can you talk a little bit about the progression to today and winning the national championship of such a prestigious golfing nation, and what it means to you to hear the deputy premier minister for tourism say you’re a credit to golf and a credit to
your country?

JORDAN SPIETH: That took me back. I was as close to tearing up as I got out there. Those words are words, you don’t necessarily expect to hear them and when you hear them it’s a tremendous honour and one that carries weight. I certainly need to conduct myself for me and my family, my country, the team, whatever. So that was really nice of him.

Yeah, since I was 16, that first professional experience as an amateur was what put belief in my head that this is what I could do for a living and that I wanted to be the number one player in the world some day. It was that week that I really knew that it was possible if I really stayed at it and worked hard, having that opportunity. So since then still had some junior events, through college golf, University of Texas, winning a national championship there. Each year there were certain goals that I wanted to achieve and wanted to get better each year, and that was the goal.

Each year had something that was a little better than the last and I felt like I was better as a golfer, better mentally and with my skill set, and this year I believed it was an improvement on last year but without a win, which was a goal of mine, to have a win in 2014 and I only had two events left. So to finally accomplish it now, this is the peak of where I’ve ever been as a golfer and it’s really cool and hopefully we work to climb more higher peaks.

Seeing Jordan win and win in such a convincing fashion was beautiful and made me proud to be an American. What a week it has been at the Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney.

Andy Reistetter Reporting from Down Under. Well Done Andy Boy   (Facebook Post 1 Pic, Jeffrey ‘Frosty Rothstein, 11/30/14)

WOW, what a Sunday at the Emirates Australian Open…   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 11/30.14)

 

Here are some other highlights of the day: