Story highlights

Jordan Spieth won the Open Championship by three shots Sunday

The American recovered from a nightmare shot off the 13th tee

Spieth says Tiger Woods made winning look easy

Royal Birkdale CNN  — 

He bemoaned Tiger Woods for making winning look easy, labeling his countryman’s exploits “almost unfair.”

And after Sunday’s rollercoaster final day at the British Open, newly-crowned champion Jordan Spieth knows just how hard it can be to win a major golf tournament.

The 23-year-old had to scrap for his third major triumph, recovering from four bogeys on the front nine – and a nightmare drive off the 13th tee that resulted in a 20-minute delay – to get his challenge back on course.

Spieth hit a shot from near the practice green to within feet of the green, limiting the damage to just a bogey – a “momentum shift,” his caddie Michael Greller called it.

What followed immediately after was a run of birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie that wrestled control back from playing partner Matt Kuchar, who had momentarily turned a three-shot deficit to Spieth into a one-shot lead.

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Updated 6:49 AM EDT, Mon July 24, 2017
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US golfer Jordan Spieth poses for pictures as he kisses the Claret Jug, the trophy for the Champion golfer of the year, in front of the Art-Deco-style clubhouse, after winning the 2017 British Open Golf Championship at Royal Birkdale golf course near Southport in north west England on July 23, 2017.
Jordan Spieth won the British Open at Royal Birkdale on Sunday by three shots. It is Spieth's third major title after he won the Masters and US Open in 2015. / AFP PHOTO / Andy BUCHANAN / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE        (Photo credit should read ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Jordan Spieth: The Open's driving range champ
02:38 - Source: CNN

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“I’ve been on these roller coasters before, it’s just kind of how it works,” Spieth told CNN’s Alex Thomas after lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale.

“We had one guy come in and make it look extremely easy and that’s Tiger Woods. I wouldn’t expect that from other people and it’s almost unfair that he made it look so easy, it’s almost unfair to us because it’s just not.”

Earlier this month 14-time major Woods, who spent 683 weeks as world No. 1, dropped out of the top 1,000 in golf’s official world rankings for the first time in his career.

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Updated 6:49 AM EDT, Mon July 24, 2017
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Jordan Spieth of the United States, left, stands on a mound to look at his ball on the 13th hole during the final round of the British Open Golf Championship, at Royal Birkdale, Southport, England, Sunday July 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
The shot that saved Jordan Spieth's Open dream
01:51 - Source: CNN

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High dunes

Spieth had lost his three-shot overnight lead after four holes of the final round, in scenes reminiscent of his infamous Masters meltdown of 2016.

The nadir of his collapse arrived as he carved a drive way right into high dunes on Royal Birkdale’s 13th before declaring the ball unplayable.

The ensuing delay while he worked out a place to take a penalty drop on the adjacent practice range appeard all-too-similar to Spieth’s public unraveling on Augusta’s 12th hole when he twice found water to blow the lead last year.

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But Spieth displayed incredible mental strength to complete the third leg of a potential career “grand slam” of golf’s four majors and become the youngest Open winner since Seve Ballesteros won at Royal Lytham in 1979.

The swashbuckling Spaniard was dubbed the “car park champion” because of a shot he played from a parking lot after a miscue during the tournament.

When it was put to Spieth his antics on the 13th could earn him the moniker the “practice range champion”, he said: “There’s a few ways to skin a cat and that was an interesting one.”

Spieth admitted his head started to swirl with thoughts of losing the lead – and of what had gone before at Augusta – but he knew he needed to display the same steel he demonstrated by winning the Masters and US Open during a stunning two-month spell in 2015.

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Updated 6:49 AM EDT, Mon July 24, 2017
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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - NOVEMBER 20:  Matthew Fitzpatrick of England with the DP World Tour Championship Trophy after the final round of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 20, 2016 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Matt Fitzpatrick's perfect day? Tuna & Augusta
01:49 - Source: CNN

“It’s always needed, it’s never easy to win golf tournaments,” he said. “If I lost it then I was going to lose the golf tournament so I had one thing I could do, which was to stay present, recognize I could make five and figure a way to do so.

“It took three really good shots and a lot of patience. We were able to do it and at that point I thought I stole one. When you think you steal one when you’ve been given them away the whole day that’s a totally different feeling.”

‘Tons of motivation’

The episode at the 13th hole left Spieth trailing Kuchar by one, but it seemingly reinvigorated the would-be champion as he came close to a hole-in-one at the 14th before sinking a huge putt for eagle across the 15th green.

The US PGA, the year’s final major, takes place at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina next month, and Spieth says completing his collection will be foremost in his mind.

“Tons of motivation,” he said. “The PGA from now on I will always have that headline and something that I’m thinking about. I’m glad I only have one leg left. We’re in form and it’s only a few weeks away.”

Before then, he intends to celebrate his 24th birthday Thursday with a fishing trip with his dad and brother Steven to celebrate his brother’s graduation from Brown University.

“I think they’ve decided and they are going to let me know when I get back,” he said.

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“I’m excited to go home and see my family, I miss them a lot and it’s going to be really nice bringing this trophy back to the States.”