Los Angeles: Many felt sorry for Jordan Spieth when he came up a stroke short Monday in the British Open. His bankers didn’t.
Spieth, the 21-year-old phenom from Dallas, who was trying to join Ben Hogan as the only professional-era golfer to win the first three majors of the season, parred the final hole at the Old Course at St. Andrews to miss out on a playoff, won by Zach Johnson.
Hogan won the first three majors in 1953.
Spieth’s share of fourth place still brought him a paycheck of $460,377 (Dh1.69 million).
That meant that, in just four events on the tour -- the Masters he won in April, the U.S. Open he won in June, the John Deere Classic he won in July, and the British -- he had winnings of $4,906,377.
The winner’s take at the Masters and the U.S. Open were $1.8 million each; at the John Deere, $846,000.
His winning spree sent his prize money for the year to $9,170,215.
Spieth is now already 75th on the PGA Tour in career prize money, with $17,392,783. Tiger Woods leads with $109,837,612, followed by Phil Mickelson with $77,200,795.
With five months to go, Spieth should easily surpass the $10-million mark, with an additional $10-million FedEx Cup purse also a possibility.
Also, while he didn’t win the Claret Jug, the legendary trophy that goes to the winner for the next year, he didn’t miss out completely on it. A photo released Wednesday showed Spieth returning to the U.S. with Johnson on the same private plane and being allowed a swig of something from the Jug.
Johnson is pictured standing nearby, seeming to enjoy sharing his prize.
