As another major comes and goes, Jordan Spieth’s drought continues.
While Gary Woodland and Brooks Koepka dueled alongside the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spieth’s round and tournament came to a crashing halt on the back nine during the 119th U.S. Open championship.
The tournament’s conclusion and Woodland’s victory marked the seventh straight major Spieth has finished empty-handed in, with his last major victory on the PGA Tour coming from the 2017 British Open. Well out of contention before the start of Sunday’s round, Spieth began the day 12 shots behind the leader. After getting back to par for the tournament, Spieth would record a bogey or worse on six of his final nine holes en route to a 76 – good enough for 65th place.
Following his third place finish at the PGA Championship in May, Spieth was showing signs of hope that maybe his game was returning to form. After three straight weeks of top-10 finishes, the three-time major champion looked like a dark horse for the U.S. Open.
“It’s just been about constant progression, almost equal amounts week to week,” Spieth said to reporters Tuesday before the U.S. Open. “Those last four weeks were big for me to have — be able to trust it in tournament play, have those reps under pressure, see where I’m actually at and see what I need to improve on.”
After taking a week off before the U.S. Open, all the momentum Spieth gained in the prior three weeks seemingly vanished. His 65th place finish is Spieth’s worst result of the 2019 season, and with only a month until the British Open, the clock is ticking.
Spieth was one of four other former Longhorns to compete in the 2019 U.S. Open but was the only one to make the cut. Cody Gribble (+6), Scottie Scheffler (+4) and Jhonattan Vegas (+7) all struggled throughout the opening two rounds, which ended their stay on the Monterey Peninsula earlier than they would have liked.
Gribble made his first appearance at the U.S. Open in 2014. Gribble finished tied for 21st in the 2014 U.S. Open, but has missed the cut in his last two attempts. Both Gribble and Scheffler qualified through the sectional tournament in Dallas, where only the top 10 golfers advance. Scheffler, who currently plays on the Web.com tour, qualified for the U.S. Open in 2016 and 2017 as an amateur while still playing at Texas.
Hosting the U.S. Open for the sixth time, Pebble Beach always delivers no shortage of breathtaking views and exciting golf. All four former Longhorns looked to join an exclusive list of golfers who have won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, including former Longhorn Tom Kite, who won in 1992. Unfortunately for all four golfers, they will have to wait until 2027 for another shot of winning golf’s greatest test at Pebble Beach.
