Jordan Spieth needed overtime, but he won his 13th career PGA title on Easter Sunday at the Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. He rolled in a 10-foot birdie at Harbour Town’s par-four 18th hole in regulation to finish the final round five-under at 66 and 13-under 271 overall. He finished regulation tied with Patrick Cantlay, so the two headed to a playoff hole.
Spieth won the playoff with a 56-foot shot from a greenside bunker that landed 7 inches away from the hole. He tapped it in for par on the playoff. Cantlay also had a bunker shot, but his shot went 35 feet past the hole, and he missed the subsequent par putt.
Spieth finished regulation four groups ahead of Cantlay and had to wait out several players who had chances to take the lead or tie. However, only Cantlay could tie his overall score, while Spieth said he could not bear to watch much of the action.
“Every single putt looks like it’s going in,” Spieth said. “It was way more nerve-wracking than actually playing.”
When Spieth finished regulation, he was one stroke behind Shane Lowry, but a double-bogey by Lowry on the par-three 14th opened the door for Spieth. Lowry was one of seven golfers to finish tied for third at 12-under overall. Harold Varner III, who led to start the final round, also finished 12-under. Varner had birdie chances on each of his last four holes yet could not convert any of them.
Cam Davis (63) also finished 12-under with J.T. Poston (64), Cameron Young (66), Sepp Straka (68), and Matt Kuchar (68).
Straka also had a chance to make the playoff after tying Spieth at 13-under with a birdie on the 17th. However, he bogeyed the final hole after his approach shot landed among some long grass in front of the green.
Cantlay tied for the lead after a birdie on the 17th. He had a chance to win outright after he hit his approach on the green on the 18th hole. Instead, Cantlay slid the potential tournament-winning birdie putt to the right of the hole to set up the playoff.
It was Spieth’s first win since he won last year’s Valero Texas Open, which happened to also fall on Easter Sunday. That win last year snapped a 4-year winless drought. Next Easter, the final round of the Master’s Tournament will be played.
“That’s good vibes,” said the three-time major champion Spieth.
Spieth started the final round three strokes behind Varner, but he eagled both front-nine par fives to get into the title mix.
The early eagles came on the second hole when his shot found the hole from a greenside bunker, and on the fifth hole, he reached the green in two shots and rolled in a 24-footer as the sold-out crowd erupted in cheers.
“I was actually very surprised by the amount of support that everyone had this week, and I felt a lot of it personally,” Spieth said. “These crowds were just fantastic for it being a non-major.”
Spieth reached 13-under with a birdie on the eighth before falling back to 11-under with bogeys on the ninth and 11th. He moved back into striking position with a birdie on the 13th, then struck the birdie on the final hole to finish at 13-under.
Spieth was motivated after failing to make the cut in last week’s Masters Tournament.
“I hated it,” he said. “It was the worst feeling. It was the worst feeling as a golfer than I can remember.”
Spieth had only played the RBC Heritage tournament three times since 2015 because it always falls a week after the grueling Masters.
“What a great tournament to win,” Spieth said. “It’s an amazing golf course.”
