Stuart FranklinSOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 23: Jordan Spieth of the United States celebrates a birdie on the 14th hole during the final round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 23, 2017 in Southport, England. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)Through 54 holes at the Open Championship, Jordan Spieth had made just four bogeys. By the time he reached the fifth tee on Sunday at Royal Birkdale, he had already made three, shrinking his three-shot lead over Matt Kuchar to one. It was clear from the start Spieth didn't have his best stuff, but he battled the rest of the way, and earned the claret jug with a 12-under 268.
It is the third major championship of his career, and means he's just a victory at the PGA Championship away from the career grand slam.
After bouncing back with a birdie on the sixth, Spieth, 23, played the next seven holes in one-over, making him three-over through 12. That's when one of the strangest scenes in recent memory occurred, ..

Andrew Matthews – PA ImagesUSA's Jordan Spieth celebrates after his eagle on the 15th during day four of The Open Championship 2017 at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images)Jordan Spieth’s third win of the 2016-17 season and 11th of his PGA Tour career included a rare equipment change, one neatly timed to the demands of Royal Birkdale. Spieth added one of Tilteist's new irons to the bag, one of the six new models the company debuted on tour in late June.
Related: Jordan Spieth on how to get your A Game back
Spieth removed his Titleist 816 H2 21-degree hybrid in favor of Titleist's new 718 T-MB 3-iron. Although the company hasn't released full details on the new iron, if it follows in the footsteps of the Titleist 716 T-MB it's a hollow iron infused with heavy tungsten weighting low for shots that launch higher with less spin. Spieth already had the 716 T-MB 4-iron in the bag. Adding the 718 T-MB 3-iron gave Sp..

Matthew Lewis/R&ASOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 23: Jordan Spieth of the United States checks the yardage and playing line on the 13th hole during the final round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 23, 2017 in Southport, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)Jordan Spieth's win in the Open Championship leads to all sorts of questions about where it places him among the all-time greats. The discussion is laughably premature. Spieth is not yet 24, with decades of golf in front of him, and as Tiger Woods' travails since 2008 have proven, the trajectory of a career can shift in a hurry.
But . . . this is what we do, so it's worth at least trying to put his topsy-turvy win at Royal Birkdale in some type of historical perspective.
For starters, a win for Spieth is not only a third major championship, but also the third leg of the career Grand Slam. He joins Jack Nicklaus as the only player to win three different majors before the age of 24,..

Well, that was something, wasn't it? In one of the more bizarre scenes in major championship history, Jordan Spieth's drive on Royal Birkdale's par-4 13th went a tad right of the fairway. And by “tad right,” we mean…
https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/889158430275055617
That's the type of reaction you see at your local muni, not in the final pairing of the Open Championship.
Spieth's ball went into another time zone, a frantic search ensuing for its final destination. When fans finally located Spieth's rock, it was, ahem, in a less-than-desirable position.
https://twitter.com/SkySportsGolf/status/889156111726559232
After evaluation, Spieth decided to take an unplayable, then requested a line-of-sight ruling. And that's when things got interesting.
For the next 20 minutes, Spieth and caddie Michael Greller seemingly surveyed the entire property, searching for the right place to take relief. A search that took the duo to the driving range, through equ..

Matthew Lewis/R&ASOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 20: Branden Grace of South Africa hits his second shot on the 2nd hole during the first round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 20, 2017 in Southport, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)The conditions and course setup at Birkdale were perfect for somebody to go out and shoot a low number. But the player still had to hit the shots.
That player was Branden Grace. Feasting on rain-softened greens and an almost complete lack of wind, Grace made eight birdies against no bogeys to become the first person to shoot 62 in a men's major championship. It always helps to have a compliant putter, but the magic in Grace's round came from relentlessly pure ball-striking. He hit 70 percent of his fairways while averaging 310 yards off the tee, and hit 16 out of 18 greens.
“Low scores come from being able to control the golf ball. The best players have great awareness and control over the clubface,” says ..

Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesChina's Li Haotong shakes hands with Ernie Els on the 18th green at Royal Birkdale after shooting a 63 in the final round of the 2017 Open Championship.SOUTHPORT, England — If the name Li Haotong rings a bell for American golf fans, it’s likely because of the China native’s antics just three weeks ago at the HNA Open de France. Or more aptly the antics of his mom.
When the then-frustrated second-year European Tour pro deposited his putter into a lake at Le Golf National during a fit of temper, mom became a viral sensation by going into the water to retrieve the club.
The 21-year-old Li wanted no part of the talking about his mom’s swim, implying it’s a bit of a sore point in the Li household. “Next question, please,” he joked in the steady English he learned by playing the Web.com Tour in 2015. But he sure was happy to chat about the latest bit of amusement: a closing 63 at Royal Birkdale that vaulted him into shouting distance of the leaders at the Op..

ANDY BUCHANANUS golfer Jordan Spieth reacts on the 18th green after his third round on day three of the Open Golf Championship at Royal Birkdale golf course near Southport in north west England on July 22, 2017.Jordan Spieth will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the British Open after shooting a bogey-free third round of 65 to go to 11 under par on Saturday at Royal Birkdale. / AFP PHOTO / Andy BUCHANAN / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images)SOUTHPORT, England — With the way people are talking, one might assume that Jordan Spieth's name has already been engraved on the claret jug. The two-time major champ holds a three-shot lead over Matt Kuchar entering the final round of the 146th British Open, and he's six shots clear of Brooks Koepka and Austin Connelly in third place. Spieth will likely claim the claret jug, but he's far from a lock.
At least, according to The Economist's EAGLE, a statistical predic..