Since making his tournament debut in 2014, Jordan Spieth has not placed in the top 10 at THE PLAYERS, but this week might end that run. On a challenging Thursday morning when a number of renowned professionals shot in the mid seventies, he began at 2-under 70.
Nevertheless, Spieth still gets annoyed by the evil Pete Dye design occasionally. He was prevented from attacking the hole on his third shot and did well to save par. It caught up to him at the ninth par-5 Thursday, his last hole of the day, when he attempted to push his 299-yard second approach towards the green and dragged it into a wooded area well left. Up until then, Spieth believed he had made largely wise choices. However, the PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass always shows it’s tough side.
“Once more, Pete Dye got me. You simply have to play the angles, take your strategy, and so on when you don’t have a wedge out of the fairway. I most likely missed my opportunity there.” Spieth said on Thursday.
Spieth was in the mix on Thursday, four strokes behind morning-wave leader Lucas Glover (66). He was positive when he evaluated his round later, a classic Spieth performance with plenty of highs and lows. He chipped in for eagle from left of the par-5 16th green after holeing out for eagle from a greenside bunker at the par-5 11th, which was his second hole of the day. At the 14th par-4, he hooked his tee shot into the water hazard to the left of the fairway, resulting in a double bogey. On a 9 with only two pars, he made two birdies (at Nos. 10 and 18) and two bogeys (at Nos. 15 and 17).
With seven pars, a birdie, and a bogey, Spieth’s second 9 was more traditional. Then, when all else was equal, he was asked what kind of golf he liked best. Spieth likes less volatility, but fans may feel differently.
“Obviously, I know exactly what I’m doing. I mean, I would want life to be dull, but I’m currently finding myself in a situation where I’m still trying to get to where I want to be. Volatility will therefore occur when that occurs. Although I don’t feel particularly tight just now, I do think I’m headed in the right direction. I’ve played in a lot of tournaments where I’ve been mediocre towards the finish, and I’ve also played in a lot of ones where there was instability.” Spieth said with a lie.
The former world No. 1 has missed 5 cuts in ten starts at THE PLAYERS, and he has only once placed inside the top 40 at TPC Sawgrass, except from a tie for 4th place in 2014 (when he was 20 years old and rapidly rising to superstardom).
Arriving this week, Spieth was still recovering from offseason wrist surgery that had him out of commission for about 5 months last autumn. He made his comeback in early February and has already recorded 2 top-10 performances in 4 outings, stating in recent weeks that he feels ahead of schedule.
Spieth stated on Thursday that he needed to hit more balls than usual during his practice sessions in order to continue to knock off the rust. To avoid aggravating his wrist again, a careful balance must be struck.
He claimed that his score reflects how he feels this week.
“It wasn’t like I was returning to something that was already fantastic; I had to sort of reconstruct things after a few months of nothing. For a year and a half, I was in some extremely poor behaviours. My wrist feels great this week; it just takes maybe twice as many balls as I hit before. I’m thrilled about that because it gives me the confidence to go out now and try harder than I was able to in the first few weeks of the season.” Spieth said.
After failing to qualify via the Aon Next 10 or Aon Swing 5 and placing below the top 50 on the 2024 FedExCup standings, Spieth did not participate in last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Normally, he would have taken more time off, but he wanted to maintain a rhythm in THE PLAYERS and enjoyed his feels, so he only took one day off.
Though much work remains, but it seems he has a plan.
