Spieth returns to top, captures 1st victory since 2017

Jordan Spieth fired a final round 66 to win the Valero Texas Open by two on Sunday.

The victory over Charley Hoffman marks Spieth’s 12th career win and his first since the 2017 Open Championship.

“This is a monumental win for me, one I’ve been waiting for a long time,” Spieth said afterward, via NBC coverage of the event.

The 27-year-old began the final round sharing the lead with Englishman Matt Wallace, but he quickly started to separate himself from the field. Spieth, who leads the PGA in birdies, made two early birdies and didn’t look back.

Hoffman made things interesting with a back-nine charge, but Spieth came up with an important birdie on the par-4 17th to give himself a two-shot cushion going into the last hole.

All he needed to do was tap in for par to win for the first time in nearly four years.

“There were a lot of times I wasn’t sure if I’d be here with you, talking to you about this right now,” he told the Golf Channel’s Steve Sands during his post-win interview. “I never really doubted in myself to be able to get back to where I wanted to go, but when you lose confidence, a lot of the time it’s hard to see the positives going forward.”

Spieth’s win at TPC San Antonio comes 1,351 days after he claimed his third major championship at the 2017 Open.

He also moves to No. 38 in the world rankings the week before heading to Augusta National in pursuit of his second career green jacket.

Here’s the final top of the leaderboard:

Place Player To Par Round 4 Score

1 Jordan Spieth -18 66

2 Charley Hoffman -16 66

3 Matt Wallace -14 70

4 Lucas Glover -12 66

5 Anirbhan Lahiri -10 69

T6 Brandt Snedeker -9 68

T6 Chris Kirk -9 68

T6 Gary Woodland -9 69

Previously ==============

April 2, 2021

Spieth shoots lowest score of Texas Open career

Jordan Spieth held the early lead midway through Thursday’s action at the Valero Texas Open with a first-round 67.

Spieth’s 5-under performance at TPC San Antonio is the lowest out of 19 rounds played at the course. The 27-year-old ended the day gaining nearly five strokes tee-to-green to top the field in that category while also gaining close to two strokes on the greens despite not having the best day ball-striking-wise.

“I just can’t find the center of the face right now,” Spieth remembers telling his caddie during Thursday’s round, according to Tee Scripts.

“It was just kind of an off day on contact, but I mean, it’s a nice enough afternoon, should be able to get enough reps in and just kind of clean it up a little bit.”

“Overall, just chipped and putted really well, which was the difference-maker today,” he said. “I didn’t quite hit it as good as I have been, but certainly the short game came through.”

The pre-tournament favorite carded seven birdies in round one.