Recapping the Weekend in Golf

Posted by Dan Hauser on Jul 15, 2013 in golf | 0 comments

Since his second place finish at the Puerto Rico Open in early March, it wasn’t so much of an if but when Jordan Spieth would get his first career PGA Tour win.

Jordan Speith earns his first PGA Tour win at the John Deere Classic. Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Having already earned special temporary member status and his tour card for his five top-10s and over $1 million in earnings, the only thing left was to get a win and get a permanent spot on the tour.

He has had several close calls during the first half of the season too. He was in the hunt at both the Crowne Plaza Invitational and the AT&T National where he finished seventh and sixth respectively. He didn’t let the near misses get him down though and the perseverance paid off on Sunday when he survived a five hole playoff against defending champion Zach Johnson and David Hearn.

Not only did the win make him an official PGA Tour member, making him eligible for the Fed Ex Cup, it also earned him a spot at this week’s British Open and next year’s Masters.  Speith can also say that he has done something that not even the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, or any of the other greats have done. At 19, Speith became only the second teenager ever to win on the PGA Tour and the first since Ralph Guldahl took the Santa Monica Open in 1931.

Phil Wins For First Time Across The Pond

Starting the day two shots back, Phil Mickelson did something on Sunday that he had yet to do in his career: win an event in the United Kingdom.

Phil Mickelson wins the Scottish Open for his first ever win in the UK. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

Mickelson shot a three under 69 on Sunday and then birdied the playoff hole to take the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open. It was his first win on any European soil since he won a European Challenge Tour event in Paris in 1993.

It was also a successful Scottish Open debut for Brooks Koepka. The Wellington resident who is playing this year on the European Tour shot a four day total of 10-under par, good enough for a tie for 12th.

All three (Micckelson, Koepka, and Speith) will join the rest of the top golfers in the world including Jupiter Island resident Tiger Woods and Palm Beach Gardens resident Rory Mcllroy at this week’s British Open which starts Thursday at Muirfield.