Jordan Spieth’s 4-putt double bogey may cost him the Grand Slam

Jordan Spieth throws his ball into the crowd after his double bogey on the eighth hole. (REUTERS) If Jordan Spieth doesn’t win the British Open on Monday, he will likely blame the par-3 eighth as the undoing of his single-season Grand Slam chances.

Spieth, trying to become the first golfer in the modern era to win the Grand Slam having already claimed the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, arrived at the par-3 eighth just one stroke back of the lead. But a four-putt (yeah, we’re calling it that) led to a double-bogey 5 that took him from 14-under down to 12-under and three shots off.

Spieth has since rebounded with birdies at nine and 10 to move back within one of the lead. But with a stacked leaderboard, any kind of mistake is magnified, and this one may prove particularly costly.

[Slideshow: Round 4 of the British Open]

It was the tee shot that set up the four putt, with Spieth’s ball ending up some 100 feet from the cup. His first putt went way too long, rolling off the green shared with the 10th hole. From there, Spieth’s third shot – though technically not his second putt – went about 5 feet by for a testy bogey bid. As has been his nemesis throughout the championship, Spieth missed the close one to put a 5 on the card. In the 38-hour, two-day second round, Spieth had five three-putts that are the difference between where he is now, in the thick of it, and well out ahead of the field.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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