Jordan Spieth is officially back in the winning series as he held out Charley Hoffman to win the Valero Texas Open Sunday at TPC San Antonio. Here’s everything you need to know:
Rankings: Jordan Spieth (-18), Charley Hoffman (-16), Matt Wallace (-15), Lucas Glover (-12), Anirban Lahiri (-10)
What it means: Nearly four years and 83 starts since his last PGA Tour tournament – or any victory before that – Spieth is a champion again. He looked in vintage form, finishing with a cool and confident 6 under 66 and turning his tour-best third lead of 54 holes of the season into his first win since the 2017 Open Championship. With four top-10s and now a win in his last seven starting games, Spieth enters the Masters this week with good momentum and will 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 last week’s Tour event.
Valero Texas Open: Full Scores | Full coverage
How it happened: Spieth equalized on the standings on Sunday with Wallace at 12 under and entering two strokes at Hoffman. Early on, Spieth looked a little nervous, hitting a few cross-balls in the first few holes and moaning the par-5 second, though he did not hit a shot from the highway. However, these nerves were of short duration. Spieth never lost the lead and set things in motion by almost making an ash on the 174-yard, par-3 third. He took the 2-footer, one of his four in front of nine birdies, his first solo lead of the day and never looked back.
“I really felt very light,” he said afterwards. “I felt like I just wanted to get out and smile, try to have fun. It was a challenge for me on these Sundays when I was in a fight.”
Spieth gives ‘long road’ to win for the first time since 2017
After years of fighting his swing, Spieth hit the holder of the interface and looked particularly sharp with his wedges, taking on the challenge after the challenge from Hoffman, the tournament’s money winner, who was fighting for a ticket to Augusta National had, shaken off. When Hoffman sank a 20-foot on the par-3 16th to get inside a shot from Spieth for the third time in the final lap, Spieth stepped on the next tee and sent a ride to within 75 yards on the 366-yard, par-4 17th to set up another birdie and return to two from Hoffman. And because Spieth always finds a way to make it interesting, he hooked an 8-iron into the rough – and barely over a video scoreboard – while lying at the par-5 finish hole, but succeeded to escape with par and win by two.
Round of the day: Patton Kizzire became vicious with seven birdies to shoot 65 and reach his fourth final of the T-11 or better this season.
Shot of the day: Spieth hit some nice wedge shots on the back nine to set up important birdies, but the kick-off ball at number 3 was the spark for his final round.
Biggest disappointment: Wallace. Spieth and Hoffman turned the finish into a two-man show, as the Englishman, who closed in 69 thanks to three straight birdies to close, was essentially just a spectator in the final trio.
Quote of the day: “Man, that’s been a long road. There were many times I was not sure if I would talk to you here [Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis] about this at the moment. I never really doubted in myself to be able to get back to where I wanted to go, but if you lose confidence many times, it’s hard to see the positive future. … This is a monumental victory for me. This is one that I have definitely been thinking about for a long time. ‘ – Spieth