Fear not, normal service has resumed. Jordan Spieth snapped a nine-month winless streak on the US PGA Tour with a controlled display to take out the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by four strokes in California.
Spieth’s ninth tour title was his first since the Colonial tournament last May and validates a run of four consecutive top-10 finishes on the circuit since capturing the Australian Open last November. It’s also a timely victory with the Masters now a mere seven weeks away.
Spieth now passes Jack Nicklaus in the age stakes for the youngest players to reach nine US PGA Tour wins and now sits behind only Tiger Woods (post World War II) on the list. He’s also the seventh straight player younger than 30 to win on the US PGA Tour, a run that ties the longest streak since 1970.
Spieth took control of the three-course tournament with consecutive 65s in rounds two and three to build a six-shot buffer from two-time winner Brandt Snedeker. Former US Amateur champion Kelly Kraft drew within three strokes of a cautious Spieth for a time in the final round before the former world No.1 removed all doubt by holing a 29-foot birdie putt on the penultimate green.
Jason Day endured a topsy-turvy week, backing up a scintillating second-round 64 with a trouble-strewn 75. Still, a Sunday 67 earned the world’s best golfer a share of fifth place. Cameron Percy (T-10) was the next best Australian.
* A birdie-eagle finish to cap a closing 63 sealed victory for Fabrizio Zanotti at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia on the European Tour.
The Paraguayan roared into contention with his electric finish after beginning the final round six strokes off the pace. He overcame American David Lipsky by a stroke with Austrian Bernd Wiesberger a shot further adrift.
This was Zanotti’s second European Tour title, nearly three years after his tour breakthrough. The result also belied a string of free weekends.
“It was probably the best round of my career, so I’m very happy,” Zanotti said. “It was a really good day, a really good week.
“I think it was at the 15th where I thought I might be able to win, when I made birdie there. I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll have a chance if I make two more birdies,’ but I made a birdie and an eagle, so it was great.
“It feels really good to be a winner again. I’ve been working a lot and I was not in my best run of form, missing three cuts in a row, but that’s in the past and today I’m a winner again and it feels great.”
* VIC OPEN RE-CAPS: Papadatos and Reid close out in style
