Newly-crowned Masters champion Jordan Spieth says he intends to defend his Australian Open crown in Sydney later this year.
Wearing his new green jacket after tying the Masters' scoring record and winning by four shots, 21-year-old Spieth credited his stunning Australian Open win in November as a major catalyst towards his Augusta National triumph, teaching him how to win.
In windy conditions at The Australian in Sydney, Spieth left world No.1 Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott in awe of his final-round eight-under-63 - when very few broke 70 - as he romped to a six-shot win.
"I fully plan on making the trip back to Australia," Spieth said of the Australian Open, to be played again at The Australian on November 26-29.
"It was a special week for me and obviously did a lot for my career. Without it, I may not be here right now."
Spieth, who said pre-Masters that his triumph in Sydney was his most important but understandably downgraded it a notch on Sunday.
"That (Australia) could arguably be one of the best wins that I've ever had but I would obviously call this one the greatest win I've ever had - no offence," he said with a laugh.
"But what the Australian Open did was, in a period where I had some struggles towards the top of the leaderboard on Sundays, it brought a level of patience.
"It was trial and error for a couple of times and we had not found the solution as a team but we found the solution in Australia against a world-class field including the world No.1 (McIlroy) and No.2 (Scott) at the time.
"Closing out that tournament and seeing what that meant in the history of that tournament and understanding who won there, it meant a lot."
Spieth's links to Australian golf don't end with the Open as he has been coached by Cameron McCormick, a Texan-based Aussie, since he was 12-year-old.
"I've trusted Cameron since I was, what, 12, turning 13, so eight or nine years. I have complete trust in anything he says. He's my swing coach, putting coach, short game coach, mental coach, everything," Spieth said.
"He's the one that knows what I'm thinking out there more than anybody else and how to adapt to the situation.
"I owe everything on the course to him, and you know, he's a very special teacher, somebody who I think is just going to get bigger and bigger, and you're going to see him with a lot of tour players in the future."
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