Jordan Spieth reacts on the 16th green during the final round of the Dean & Deluca Invitational on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Jordan Spieth exhibited his short-game wizardry with six back-nine birdies to claim the Dean & Deluca Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas on Sunday for his eighth career PGA Tour victory before his 23rd birthday, an impressive run that is one better than Tiger Woods managed at that age.

The emphatic win not only gave Spieth, who turns 23 on July 27, his first win in his home state after three second-place showings in Texas, but the performance came in his third start since his back-nine collapse at the Masters last month.

He carded a closing 65 for a 17-under total of 263, good for a three-shot cushion over fellow American Harris English (66).

"To come back in only our third tournament and close it out is really, really special," Spieth said. "As a golfer and as a person I can always look back on this experience and say we were strong in what shouldn't have been tough times, but were tough times."

Only the late Horton Smith, with 14, recorded more wins than Spieth at 22 or younger.

Spieth, the world No.2, opened with three straight birdies on his back nine and closed with three straight birdies. On his final three holes, he curled in a 20-foot (6.1-meter) birdie putt, chipped in from 40 feet and punctuated his performance with a 35-foot putt on the closing hole.

He also received a little help from the golfing gods. With a one-stroke lead on 17, Spieth received a break when his pulled tee shot glanced off the leg of a marshal and finished in the first cut of rough. He drilled his approach shot over the green and received a free drop from a grandstand.

"Seventeen was one of the luckiest holes I've ever had personally," Spieth said.

Spieth began the final round with a one-shot lead and had to withstand an early charge from English, who knocked in his 83-yard (75.9-meter) approach shot for eagle on the par-five opening hole.

Spieth, who also made lengthy par putts at eight and 14, became the first Texan to win the Colonial since Ben Crenshaw in 1990. He understands why golf fans and media have talked at length about his performance at the Masters, where he threw away the green jacket with a quadruple-bogey at the 12th hole during the final round. But Spieth kept telling himself over the ensuing weeks to tune out the incessant babble. "Don't listen to the noise," he told himself.