Jordan Spieth is officially back in the winners’ circle, while he held Charley Hoffman to win the Valero Texas Open on Sunday at TPC San Antonio. Here’s everything you need to know:
Among the best: Jordan Spieth (-18), Charley Hoffman (-16), Matt Wallace (-15), Lucas Glover (-12), Anirban Lahiri (-10)
What it means: Almost four years and 83 games since his last win on the PGA Tour – or any win in that regard – Spieth is champion again. He looked in vintage form, closing with a good and confident 6 under 66, and turned his best third advantage of the Tour into 54 holes of the season in his first win since the 2017 Open Championship. With four first ten and now a win in his last seven games, Spieth enters this week’s Masters Tournament with a good boost and will try to win his second green jacket while becoming the fifth player – and the first since Phil Mickelson in 2006 – to win at Augusta National after also winning the previous week’s Tour event.
Valero Texas Open: Full field score | Full coverage
How did this happen: Spieth came on Sunday tied at the top of the leaderboard with Wallace 12 below, and two strokes over Hoffman. At first, Spieth seemed a little nervous, hitting a few tee balls in the first few holes and making a birdie in the par 5 seconds, despite not getting a shot from the fairway. However, these nerves were short-lived. Spieth never lost the lead and went on to almost make an ace in 174 yards, par 3 third. He made the 2-footer, one of his first four birdies, to take his solo lead of the day and never looked back.
“I really felt very light,” he said afterwards. “I felt like I just wanted to go out and smile, try to have fun. That has been a challenge for me these Sundays, when I have been in the running.”
Spieth details ‘long road’ to first victory since 2017
After years of struggling with his swing, Spieth hit clutch strokes along the straight, looking especially sharp with his wedges, while shaking challenge after challenge from Hoffman, the all-time tournament winner who was fighting for a ticket to the Augusta National. When Hoffman hit a 20-foot stroke on par 3 16 to reach Spieth for the third time in the final round, Spieth went up on the next tee and fired a drive into 75 yards at 366 yards, par-4 17 to set up another birdie and come back for two away from Hoffman. And because Spieth always finds a way to make it interesting, he hooked an 8 iron in the rough – and barely passed a video scoreboard – while hitting the par 5 finishing hole, but managed to escape with a pair and win by two.
Back of the day: Patton Kizzire ran out of bogey with seven birdies to hit 65 and get his fourth place in the T-11 or better this season.
Photo of the day: Spieth landed some beautiful kicks in the back nine to set important birdies, but the tee ball at No. 3 was the spark for his final round.
Biggest disappointment: Wallace. Spieth and Hoffman turned the submission into a two-man show while the Englishman, who closed in 69 thanks to three consecutive birdies to close, was essentially just a spectator in the final trio.
Quote of the day: “Dude, it’s been a long road. Many times I wasn’t sure I would be here talking to you [Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis] about it now. In fact, I never doubted being able to get back to where I wanted to be, but when you lose confidence it is often difficult to see the positive from now on. … This is a monumental victory for me. It is something that I certainly thought about for a long time. ” – Spieth