Copyright USGA/Jeff HaynesNoah Goodwin holds the trophy after winning during the championship match at the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur at Flint Hills National Golf Club.There is no shortage of USGA champions who overcame significant match-play deficits to claim their titles. Noah Goodwin can add himself to the list.
The 17-year-old from Corinth, Texas, was 4 down with eight holes remaining to Matthew Wolff in the scheduled 36-hole finale of the 70th U.S. Junior Amateur at Flint Hills National G.C. in Andover, Kan., yet walked away with a 1-up victory and the most prestigious title in junior golf. It was the second-largest comeback in U.S. Junior history behind Phillip Barbaree being 5 down with eight to play only to win in 37 holes in 2015.
In the process, Goodwin, No. 27 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, avenged his defeat in the 2016 U.S. Junior final to Min Woo Lee and joined Mason Rudolph (1950) and Tim Straub (1983) as the only players to follow up a runner-up finish with a victory ..

FacebookPinterestDan MullanJordan Spieth celebrates a birdie on the 18th green during the third round of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

SOUTHPORT, England — Sunday is very big for Jordan Spieth.
Through 54 holes, with a three-stroke lead, he’s been the best player at Royal Birkdale by a lot. Though he’s already got two majors at age 23, having gone now two years since his last one has caused the trauma at the 2016 Masters to linger in the collective memory – and probably Spieth’s as well – too long. Capturing the Open on Sunday would accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.
It’s true that in golf, no one wins them all, or even most of them. But it’s a cruel reality that major setbacks, if not made up for and healed quickly, can seriously inhibit the destinies of great talents.
Sam Snead was haunted enough by blowing the 1939 U.S. Open that he never won that championship. Conversely, in 1946 Ben Hogan lost both the Masters and U…

David Cannon/R&ASOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 22: Brooks Koepka of the United States tees off on the 14th hole during the third round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 22, 2017 in Southport, England. (Photo by David Cannon/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)SOUTHPORT, England — The good news for Matt Kuchar, Austin Connelly, Brooks Koepka, Branden Grace and Hideki Matsuyama is that golf history is littered with final-round collapses in major championships.
There was Adam Scott leading by four with four to play in the 2012 Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes only to bogey his way in; Greg Norman blowing a six-shot lead on the final day of the 1996 Masters; and of course who can forget Jean Van de Velde, shoes off and ankle deep in the Barry Burn on the 18th hole at Carnoustie in the 1999 Open Championship to name a few.
Jordan Spieth even had one, last year at Augusta National, where after leading by five with nine holes to play he went bogey-bogey-quad and eventually finished th..

FacebookPinterestANDY BUCHANANJordan Spieth reacts on the 18th green after holing a birdie putt to complete his third round of the Open Golf Championship. / AFP PHOTO / Andy BUCHANAN / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Even when viewing fatigue has set in from watching hours and hours of televised golf from a major championship, it still is worthwhile to head over to Golf Channel to hear the analysis of its opinionated and astute duo of Brandel Chamblee and Frank Nobilo.
Leading off was Nobilo, regarding the putt Spieth holed for birdie on the 18th hole that expanded his lead over Matt Kuchar to three and to six over Brooks Koepka and Austin Connelly, who are tied for third.
“This one here from Spieth is for all the players in the locker room thinking they had a chance,” Nobilo said.
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Is it over? Spieth has separated himself from Kuchar and the two of them have separated themselves..

Peter Byrne – PA ImagesMatt Kuchar reacts to lipping out his birdie try on the 18th during Saturday's third round of the 2017 Open Championship. Despite shooting a 66, he stands three strokes back of leader Jordan Spieth.SOUTHPORT, England — What do you have to do to catch this guy? It’s the thought that had to be racing through the mind of Matt Kuchar on the back nine Saturday at Royal Birkdale, playing alongside the steady Jordan Spieth as the third round of the Open Championship morphed from birdie-fest to a one-on-one duel between himself and his final-pairing foe. No doubt, too, it’s the question that will surface on Sunday, when the pair will once walk side-by-side once more in the final twosome.
For a short while on the 15th hole—emphasis on short—it appeared Kuchar had finally accomplished the seemingly impossible when he rolled in a birdie putt to get to nine under par for the tournament and tie Spieth. Yet only moments later, the week-long leader made a birdie of his own..

Christian PetersenSOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 22: Jordan Spieth of the United States celebrates a birdie on the 18th green during the third round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 22, 2017 in Southport, England. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)SOUTHPORT, England — At the urging of playing partner Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth eschewed his normal routine of pulling out his greens book to study the putt facing him as he approached the 18th green. Under a Saturday evening glow at Royal Birkdale, Spieth held the lead at golf's oldest major, and he soaked up the moment as the packed grandstands showed their appreciation.
Moments later, he'd make the fans roar even louder.
The blip in Spieth's usual routine didn't stop him from rolling in one final putt, a 20-foot curler for birdie that capped a second 65 of the week. And with a three-shot lead heading into Sunday at the 146th British Open, the 23-year-old Texan is on the brink of winning a th..

Gregory ShamusSOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 22: Jordan Spieth of the United States plays a shot from the fairway on the 11th hole during the third round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 22, 2017 in Southport, England. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)While Jordan Spieth waited to tee off on Saturday, players on the course were picking apart Royal Birkdale, the same course that produced a scoring average of 74.03 in the second round of the Open Championship the day before. Before the leaders even began their third round, three players already had posted five-under 65s in the pristine conditions, and Branden Grace was working on what would later become the lowest round in major championship history, an eight-under 62.
As we've grown accustomed to with Spieth, he was unfazed, and went out and carded a low number of his own, a second straight five-under 65, this time bogey-free. He's through 54 holes at 11-under 199, three shots ahead of Matt Kuchar. It&#..