As Zach Johnson collected the Claret Jug and the second major of his understated career it may have seemed churlish to contemplate what might have been. That sense, though, was unavoidable.
The 144th Open Championship could have yielded the third major of 2015 for Jordan Spieth. There was the potential for an emotional tale involving Marc Leishman, who missed the Masters in April as his wife battled for her life having been given a 5% chance of surviving toxic shock syndrome. Louis Oosthuizen was aiming to join exalted company by winning a second Open at the home of golf.
Instead, a curious thing happened; evidence of Spieth’s fallibility appeared. Johnson coolly prevailed in a four-hole play-off with Leishman and Oosthuizen. The trio had earned their berths with 15-under-par aggregates. Johnson’s margin of victory over Oosthuizen thereafter was one. Leishman wilted in the intensity of direct combat, faring three shots worse than the victor. Spieth stood at the 18th green to watch the final exchanges. Johnson shed tears of joy.
