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JOHN DEERE CLASSICJuly 11, 2015Jordan SpiethSILVIS, ILLINOIS THE MODERATOR: Jordan Spieth, I'm really not even sure how to start. So I was just going to say go ahead and start talking. Congratulations off an incredible 61 today. Too many highlights for me to go through, so I'll just turn it over to you for a few minutes. JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. You know, I said round one was certainly rusty. I needed on-course reps tonight. Should have gotten some in before arriving here. I planned on it, but a couple of charity events, my own AJGA event and then a couple of charity events before the pro am, they got rained out, including Zach Johnson's, and so I really didn't get the on-course reps I was looking leading in. A little rusty start. Uneven wise learning where my swing was off these lies coming back to get the face control and the ball control. And then you know, obviously with some good breaks and really good putting, a round like today comes together. I was extremely -- I had that fist pump on the last because walking up after the second shot I said, Mike, I just saw the board and I think this is for my lowest round that I've shot on the PGA TOUR. And I said that's pretty cool. And he said it doesn't matter what you're at. Just keep on trekking. I said, yeah, but I appreciate this, and I really want to make this thing because I really want this to be the lowest round. And it was about three feet to go, it was a perfect putt on the perfect line. So I was really excited to finish like that, obviously unexpected on 17. And a shot that was miss-hit. Not extremely miss-hit. I pulled off one hand and even if I don't miss by a lot, I probably should watch out, because it looked bad, because the shot looked pretty good in the air. Not the exact spot I wanted to land it. Just turned out perfectly. THE MODERATOR: All right. With that, we'll take a few questions. Q. (Indiscernible). JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, definitely. The putt that I made on 4, I think may have been the biggest stroke of the day. That was the key to the day. I think it was the putt on 4. I had a perfect number and hit a bad shot, hit an average chip, and I putted, it broke a little and straightened out and put a nice smooth stroke on it and knocked it in, and that gave me the confidence on 5 to make it. You know, and then I think that, you know, that par save there, and then, you know, I'm trying to think of where else I had a couple of saves. Q. (Indiscernible). JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. 6 was a nice chip. I had a really bad day in the rough. It was still dead even if it wasn't -- but I'm making 4 and 6 look really hard this week and they're not hard. 6 is just a 3-iron wedge, and 4, you know, if you drive it in the right place, it's just a ^ short iron. So obviously look to improve on those two holes. But it's been kind of the story of the week. The first day I could have easily gone to 3-over. I made about a five-foot slider through 12 holes. And they be brought that back to even and then yesterday in the middle of the round started to pick it back up. But just hanging in there has been the key to this week, and the one thing I'll regret to this week is starting even par after the first day and starting that far behind, but we've made up for it obviously, and still, the way this golf course plays it's not an even after par round tomorrow. I have to shoot well into the 60s to win this tournament. Q. (Check)? JORDAN SPIETH: A little bit, yeah. I mean you know, he's trained to say, punch it out, you know, work for par and go to the next. And I said, you know, I didn't even like that opening, the punch-out opening. There really wasn't many places to go unless I went backwards, sideways. And I saw a spot there -- I feel like that's actually one of the biggest advantages of my game is that it's kind of the troubleshooting, the shots out of the trees, the working it right-to-left and left-to-right, punch shots, whatever it has to be, those shots to get out of trouble, I think it's one of the strengths of my game. And I felt like I knew the trajectory of my 5-iron was good enough. I had a good enough lie. It wasn't a big enough window that I went through. And you know, I just caught it nicely, climbed right out over the tree and spoke the other two. And after I hit it and it got through there, I gave Mike a little fist pump, because it could have gone very poorly if the ball didn't come out how I wanted to on 17 on the second shot. Q. What did you hit on that second shot? JORDAN SPIETH: I hit a 5-iron. 5-iron, just because that looked like it was going to be the right club for the trajectory that needed to be hit. Q. What did you then hit into the green -- JORDAN SPIETH: Sand wedge from about 105 yards, which is about 105 had 10-yard club fending on which shot I hit. So I needed all of this. That's why I miss hit it because I was trying to hit it so hard to. Next week that shot would have been a lot easier than this week because I could have hit a stock sand wedge that landed up in the air and either added just short of the flag or spin down the hill easily. Q. In the air do you think it had a chance? JORDAN SPIETH: In the air I thought -- when I first struck it, I thought it might be flying way too far. As it held up a little in the air, I was like you know what, that. Thought it would go past the hole -- but I knew it wasn't going to spin -- I thought it wasn't going to spin too much. I then saw when I was in the booth that it actually was ripping. It would have been probably six or seven feet down below the hole. Maybe it was the wrong club. I should have hit a gap wedge and taken some of it, to be honest, for me to hit it close to the hole that sand wedge was maxed out there and it still would have spun off short. Q. (Check)? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, well, I do and then I don't. The one on 8 today was a perfect shot, and that was a pitching wedge straight downwind, which typically when it lands even on these greens, it's not (check) that ball wouldn't. Which direction it went, and it ended up 20 feet, whatever it was, 18 feet down the slope. So maybe it made up for it a little on 17. And certainly with the finish 17 and 18 -- and really 15, too. I got a lot of really good breaks closing in when I didn't hit very good shots off the tee. 15, I had a really nice break in my line of sight to get a drop from the scoreboard. I was into the grain. I wasn't going to be able -- it was sitting down in the grain. I was not going to be able to hit it more than 80 yards and there was nowhere to hit it (check) and I got a line of sight to get onto where it was down grain and I could hit a full wedge and a 65-yard shot and make a putt and on 17 I had a decent lie and had to find that window. Q. (Check)? JORDAN SPIETH: No. Going into St. Andrews it's been the concern as I've come back from this stretch, certainly. I wouldn't call it a concern. I'd call it just -- it's the one club I really need to fine tune more than anything else. Q. Will you gather (check)? JORDAN SPIETH: I think it's all going to depend on the conditions of the golf course and the conditions of the day. I know that I'll probably use my driving iron a lot, if I want to take it up the left side on a lot of holes. I know that down the right side it pays off if you're aggressive but you've got to scoot the bunkers and on the left side you normally have a little more leeway, but you have a tougher angle into the green. I think it depends on the hole and the weather conditions of the day. Q. Is driving iron, is that in your bag this week? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. Q. 4 St. Andrews? JORDAN SPIETH: 4 this week. I actually used it at the U.S. Open as well. I used it at Chambers Bay. 95 percent of the TOUR events I play I used the hybrid. At the Open Championship and I used it this year at the U.S. Open and brought it here to get some more swings with it. And it's paid off tremendously. I'm hitting into No. 2 yesterday to make eagle, and I've hit it in -- a few times I hit it into 9 today. And those shots -- 9 today I didn't want to have a hybrid in my bag for that shot. It was a perfect number for that 3-iron. You know, so I guess fortunate. Q. How much did that motivate you to make that putt? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. It's happened to me -- I mean it happens to everybody. You hit a shot exactly how you want to. And some people end up in the water. So at least mine was still on the green. I was certainly motivated to make the putt. It was one of those where I certainly felt like I deserved birdie by the two shots I hit into it. And then it was funny, I hit a dead straight shot that hit the pin and came dead straight back out. So going up to that hole, I played it dead center from that distance and it went in the left center. Q. What was the preround like with two weather delays, and then how do you feel the soft conditions played into your round? JORDAN SPIETH: Looking at the forecast, it didn't look like we were going to get this kind of break in weather, and I went out and started to warm up -- I hit some putts and probably 30 minutes of a warm up session in that pouring rain and I was embracing it. I enjoyed the fact that we had to practice in this, because we're certainly going to see it next week, so I wanted to have some swings in the rain. And we got called in again because there was no end in sight. And then by the time we went back out, they gave us enough of a warning where I could just go through a normal routine. It didn't really change. Q. Concerning the roll that you're on at 21, the fact that Lee is only 24 and what he did last week and what he had a chance to do this week, is this the final group pairing that 20 years from now we'll look back on and say, hey, my gosh, I had no idea. JORDAN SPIETH: I mean I hope so, I guess. I played with Danny the first two days. Obviously, you know, great win last week in a playoff and some clutch playing. So you don't expect a round, hopefully not what he shot today. But he still expect a good round from him. And it should be a battle. He may not even be in solo second by the end of the day with the finishing holes. So. Yeah, I don't know. The game there's certainly a lot of younger players that are coming out and they're not scared to win right away. I've seen it over the last four or five years I think more than before that. And you've seen it bunches. You know, Danny found a winning formula last week. It worked for him. He closed it out. And so he has it. I feel like I have one from this year. And so you know, it would be really cool to grab a win back at a place that's special to me, and you know, to take down a guy that's as hot as anybody in golf will be pretty fun as well tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Jordan, thanks for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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