Windermere, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Jordan Spieth started Sunday's final round with a 7-shot lead, and it only grew from there. Spieth closed with a 6- under 66 and he cruised to a dominating 10-stroke victory at the Hero World Challenge.
Spieth finished at 26-under-par 262. After setting the 54-hole scoring record, he easily broke the tournament's 72-hole scoring mark as well. Davis Love III (2000) and Tiger Woods (2007) had set the old mark of 266 at Sherwood Country Club.
"It was interesting, I never had that before," Spieth said about playing with a big lead. "It got off to a dream start. I went 3-under through the first four (holes) and from there it made it a lot easier. I was able to coast on the hard holes and got an eagle there at seven to really step out front, and then the back nine, I just tried to enjoy every single hole."
Spieth dominated at Isleworth Golf & Country Club as he set the record for largest margin of victory in event history and he became the first player in tournament history to win in wire-to-wire fashion with no ties.
Henrik Stenson finished a distant second at 16-under-par 272 after a closing with a 3-under 69. Patrick Reed (68) and Keegan Bradley (70) shared third place at minus-15.
Jason Day matched Spieth's 66 and that helped the Australian grab fifth place at 14-under-par 274. Rickie Fowler (68) and Justin Rose (71) tied for sixth at minus-11.
Tournament host Tiger Woods overcame at triple-bogey at the 13th en route to carding an even-par 72. He shared 17th place at even-par 288.
"It feels good to have that rush again. I didn't hit the ball probably as well as I would like, certainly my short game was awful, but the good sign is I played four straight days with no pain and I was able to hit the golf ball as hard as I wanted to," said Woods, who was limited to eight events in 2014 due to back problems.
"I was cutting corners, carrying bunkers again. It's nice to have my numbers up to that again. Over the holidays, I can refine it," Woods added
If there was any question as to whether someone could catch Spieth, the 21- year-old ended that discussion quickly. He rolled in a 10-footer for birdie at the first.
Spieth followed with a 7-foot birdie effort at three and drained an 18-foot putt for birdie at the fourth. That burst pushed his lead to 10 strokes.
After Bradley inched within eight of Spieth's lead, Spieth poured in an eagle try at the seventh to move to 25-under par, and he followed with a pair of pars.
"I looked at the board after nine and saw (the lead) was 11 making the turn, which is kind of ironic because I did that in college looking at the board going off 10 tee, so that was a cool experience doing that here in this tournament," said Spieth, who won a college event at Isleworth.
Around the turn, Spieth made birdie at 10 and followed that with three pars in a row.
Spieth knocked his approach shot over the green at the 14th and hit a poor chip back off the front of the green. He chipped on and 2-putted for a double- bogey.
At the par-3 15th, Spieth bounced back with a 6-foot birdie effort. He also birdied the 17th and closed with a par at the last to wrap up the dominating win.
NOTES: Spieth earned $1 million for the win ... Spieth was also the youngest winner in event history ... Prior to his win in Australia, Spieth shared third place at the Dunlop Phoenix, where he ended one shot out of a playoff ... Last year's champion Zach Johnson closed with a 3-under 69 and he shared eighth place at 9-under-par 279 ... Harris English and Matt Kuchar will defend their title next week at the Franklin Templeton Shootout, the final event of 2014 for the PGA Tour.
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