Spieth ends title drought at Texas Open; Tavatanakit aces ANA Inspiration

Former world number one Jordan Spieth ended his near four-year victory drought Sunday, gearing up for next week’s Masters with a triumph at the US PGA Tour Texas Open.

Spieth, who hadn’t won since capturing his third major title at the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale, signalled he’s again a force to be reckoned with as the game’s best look toward the first major championship of 2021 at Augusta National.

“This is a monumental win for me,” Spieth said. “It’s one that I’ve certainly thought about for a long time.”

Spieth fired seven birdies in a six-under-par 66, holding off tenacious playing partner Charley Hoffman to win by two strokes with an 18-under-par total of 270.

Hoffman had cut Spieth’s lead to one before Spieth birdied the 17th hole at TPC San Antonio, Hoffman’s own 66 putting him on 16-under 272.

Now Spieth heads to Augusta National, where he was just 21 when he won his first major title at the 2015 Masters, going on to win the US Open the same year. After years in the wilderness the 27-year-old American had been knocking at the door, holding the 54-hole lead at both Phoenix and Pebble Beach this year.

He was tied for the lead going into the final round on Sunday with England’s Matt Wallace, with Hoffman two shots back.

Wallace closed with a two-under-par 70 for third place on 274.

“I actually felt really light, felt like I just wanted to come out and smile and try to have some fun,” Spieth said, adding that “lightness” was something he’d struggled to find even as he contended earlier this year.

“I never really doubted in myself to be able to get back to where I wanted to go, but when you lose confidence it’s a lot of times hard to see the positives going forward,” he said.

TAVATANAKIT HOLDS OFF LYDIA FOR WIN: Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit steered a steady course to hold off charging Lydia Ko and win the ANA Inspiration on Sunday, making her first LPGA title a major championship.

Patty, 21, started the day with a five-shot lead and fired a four-under par 68 at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California.

Her 18-under total of 270 put her two strokes in front of New Zealand’s former world number one Ko -- who stormed from eight adrift with a sensational 10-under 62 for 272.

“I had no idea,” Patty said of Ko’s spectacular round, which matched the tournament record established by Mexican great Lorena Ochoa in the first round in 2006. I just played my own game, didn’t look at the leaderboard at all ... I just wanted to play my own game and I did -- I did a really good job of that today.”

Patty, who played collegiate golf at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, padded her overnight cushion with a chip-in eagle at the par-five second and picked up another stroke at the eighth. She was unable to take advantage of the par-five 11th, but left herself less than two feet for a birdie at the 12th.

Ko, meanwhile, was surging up the board, picking up three shots in the first two holes with an opening birdie and an eagle at the second. Birdies followed at the fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth.

The pace slowed somewhat on the back nine, where birdies at the 10th, 11th and 15th moved her within two strokes.

Ko, who counts two majors among her 15 LPGA victories couldn’t find another birdie in the last three holes and remains in search of her first victory since the 2018 Mediheal Championship.

Patty, still designated an LPGA rookie after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted her first season on tour, is the first rookie to win the ANA Inspiration since Juli Inkster in 1984.