Jordan Spieth survived a play-off showdown with Daniel Berger to record a wire-to-wire victory at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.
The former world number one from Texas led the field by a single stroke for three days but his final-day 70 and a three-under 67 from Berger allowed the Floridian to match Spieth on 12 under.
It looked like Spieth might have blown his bid for a 10th PGA Tour title when he found a bunker on his approach to the replayed 18th hole, but somehow he holed from the sand for a decisive birdie.
Shot.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 25, 2017
Of.
The.
Year.
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Spieth celebrated his remarkable winning chip by chucking his club towards caddie Michael Greller before chest-bumping the man who had simultaneously thrown the bunker rake into the air.
Floridian Berger had found three of his four birdies across the last five holes to pile the pressure on Spieth, who had dropped shots on the 12th and then the 14th thanks to putting mishaps.
Berger’s performance here almost certainly guarantees him a place on Steve Stricker’s Presidents Cup team and the 24-year-old hopes he has Spieth on his side come the September competition.
Shortly after the dramatic conclusion to the play-off, he tweeted: “Hopefully the next time JordanSpieth does that I’m on his team and I can chest bump him too !!”
Spieth, after Tiger Woods only the second golfer since 1983 to claim double-digit tour wins before their 24th birthdays, thought he had ceded the crown to Berger when his ball found the sand.
“I hit it right into the bunker and then from there I put the same kind of swing on it as my earlier bunker shot,” he said in his press conference afterwards.
“I was just at a little different angle and it took a right bounce and cut spin to roll with the hill. I jumped up and saw it coming down right on the pin and I went nuts.
“That was fun.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever have a moment equivalent to that again — something like that to win a tournament — but we certainly soaked it in.
“Berger’s got ice in his veins. I didn’t think 12 under would win today and it was hard enough to hold him to that.”
Closest to Spieth and Berger on Sunday evening were Charley Hoffman and Australia's Danny Lee, who signed for 66 and 67 respectively to settle on 10 under.
After a topsy-turvy weekend Rory McIlroy — like Spieth a debutant at Cromwell — mounted a spirited rally to record an impressive 64 that was sullied by a bogey on the last, leaving him down in 17th.
England's Paul Casey took a share of fifth following a one-under 69 but pre-cut challenger Pádraig Harrington faded from view somewhat with a 68 that put him six strokes behind the final top two.
