Jordan Spieth capped an epic season with a Tour Championship victory that boosted him back to No 1 in the world and took his 2015 winnings to more than $22 million (Dh80.8m).
Spieth, 22, whose five wins this season included the Masters and US Open, fired a final round 69 for 271 and a four-shot win over Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, New Zealand’s Danny Lee and England’s Justin Rose.
With the win — and Jason Day’s 10th-place finish — Spieth will recapture the No 1 ranking Australia’s Day had held for a week.
He also set a US PGA Tour record for earnings, the Tour Championship first prize of $1.485m taking his total for the year to $12,030,465 — not including the $10m bonus that came with his FedEx Cup playoff title.
“This year is unreal,” said Spieth, who in addition to his two major victories finished tied for fourth at the Open Championship and runner-up to Day at the PGA Championship.
“I don’t know how we sit down and figure out how to improve on it, but we’re going to try to do that.”
Spieth also won the US Tour’s Valspar Championship and John Deere Classic — but said he was stung by back-to-back missed cuts in the first two events of the US Tour’s elite four tournament playoff series.
“I got mad,” Spieth said. “I didn’t have a great playoffs, but I put a lot into this week. Mentally I stayed in it, and boy, that putter sure paid off.”
Day had come on strong at the end of the season, but with this win Spieth dampened any debate about who would deserve Player of the Year honours.
Spieth started the day with a one-stroke lead over Stenson, and the Swede — who could also have seized the playoff bonus with a victory — tried to keep the pressure on.
Back to back bogeys from Spieth at the fifth and sixth saw Stenson pull level, but Spieth was just too good on the greens.
He drained an 18-footer at the ninth — to maintain his advantage despite Stenson’s birdie, and bounced back from a bogey at 10 with a 47-foot birdie putt at the 11th.
The rest of the way Spieth found the clutch par putts when he needed them. That included a nine-footer at the 15th and a putt of about the same distance at 16.
Stenson, meanwhile, found his race for the title turning into a battle to hang on to at least a share of second, which he relinquished with a double-bogey at 17.
But Stenson rolled in a long birdie putt at the par-three 18th to cap a two-over 72 that was good enough to join Lee and Rose on five-under, Lee climbing up the leaderboard with a five-under 65 and Rose signing for a 66.
As at the Masters in April, Stenson said he could only admire Spieth’s display.
“It’s been a phenomenal year for him,” Stenson said. “I watched it first hand at the first two rounds at Augusta and he played phenomenal and putted phenomenal.
“It was the same putting display today — just an exhibition on the greens to be honest.”
Day closed his tournament with a 68 for a share of 10th. His five wins this season included not only his breakthrough major at the PGA but also two playoff tournaments, but he finished third in the FedEx Cup final standings behind Spieth and Stenson.
“I could have played better this week,” Day said as Spieth was powering toward the finish line. “But it just seems like Jordan is kind of zoned in and grinding for that win.”
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
LEADERBOARD
%3Cp%3E-19%20T%20Fleetwood%20(Eng)%3B%20-18%20R%20McIlroy%20(NI)%2C%20T%20Lawrence%20(SA)%3B%20-16%20J%20Smith%3B%20-15%20F%20Molinari%20(Ita)%3B%20-14%20Z%20Lombard%20(SA)%2C%20S%20Crocker%20(US)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ESelected%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E-11%20A%20Meronk%20(Pol)%3B%20-10%20E%20Ferguson%20(Sco)%3B%20-8%20R%20Fox%20(NZ)%20-7%20L%20Donald%20(Eng)%3B%20-5%20T%20McKibbin%20(NI)%2C%20N%20Hoejgaard%20(Den)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
RESULTS
5pm Wathba Stallions Cup Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Munfared, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ahmed Al Mehairbi (trainer)
5.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Sawt Assalam, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6pm Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Dergham Athbah, Pat Dobbs, Mohamed Daggash
6.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Rajee, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
7pm Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Kerless Del Roc, Fernando Jara, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
7.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh70,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner Pharoah King, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
8pm Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner Sauternes Al Maury, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Breast cancer in men: the facts
1) Breast cancer is men is rare but can develop rapidly. It usually occurs in those over the ages of 60, but can occasionally affect younger men.
2) Symptoms can include a lump, discharge, swollen glands or a rash.
3) People with a history of cancer in the family can be more susceptible.
4) Treatments include surgery and chemotherapy but early diagnosis is the key.
5) Anyone concerned is urged to contact their doctor
Fixtures
50-over match
UAE v Lancashire, starts at 10am
Champion County match
MCC v Surrey, four-day match, starting on Sunday, March 24, play starts at 10am
Both matches are at ICC Academy, Dubai Sports City. Admission is free.
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Other simple ideas for sushi rice dishes
Cheat’s nigiri
This is easier to make than sushi rolls. With damp hands, form the cooled rice into small tablet shapes. Place slices of fresh, raw salmon, mackerel or trout (or smoked salmon) lightly touched with wasabi, then press, wasabi side-down, onto the rice. Serve with soy sauce and pickled ginger.
Easy omurice
This fusion dish combines Asian fried rice with a western omelette. To make, fry cooked and cooled sushi rice with chopped vegetables such as carrot and onion and lashings of sweet-tangy ketchup, then wrap in a soft egg omelette.
Deconstructed sushi salad platter
This makes a great, fuss-free sharing meal. Arrange sushi rice on a platter or board, then fill the space with all your favourite sushi ingredients (edamame beans, cooked prawns or tuna, tempura veggies, pickled ginger and chilli tofu), with a dressing or dipping sauce on the side.
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Profile
Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari
Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.
Number of employees: Over 50
Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised
Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital
Sector of operation: Transport
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
