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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 20, 2015

Jordan Spieth

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

Q. How do you reflect on this week now that it's done, and how good did that putt on 18 look just now?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it looks like at least a top 5 if not a top three in a major, and although we came in wanting to be two shots better than what we finished, with everything that went on this week and the momentum we came in with it, yeah, I'm very pleased with the way we battled. Today was a really tough day. Just made a mental mistake on No. 8 and it seemed to have cost me as well as on 18, just not giving myself a chance. The putt on 18 was a little left the whole way. I know that that putt won't break back to the right. I've watched Opens at St. Andrews. It was a very, very straight putt, and when you're swinging that hard it's hard to get it exactly on line. But it was a good putt with the right speed, and that's all I could ask for after the second shot. Just a very poorly placed drive to not be able to hit my lob wedge in there where I have great control. Who would have thought a drive on 18 was going to be what really hurt me at the end there. It's kind of hard to not hit a good one on that hole. I just wish I had given myself a little better opportunity.

Q. Take us through 8. You said you made a mental mistake there.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I believe we played 8 and 17 as hard as anybody -- as hard as any group today, were those two holes. It was the hardest rain and the hardest wind at the same time of the day. We stepped on that tee box, and you'd like to maybe have a downwind hole where it doesn't really make that much of a difference, but when you look up from the ball and you're getting pelted in the face, it's a hard shot, and I just tried to sling one in there and I left it 40 yards from the pin on the green there, and it's just a no-brainer. If you make bogey, you're still in it. If you make double bogey, it's a very difficult climb, and there's absolutely no reason to hit that putt off the green. I can leave it short, I can leave if eight feet short and have a dead straight eight-footer up the hill where I'll make that the majority of the time. My speed control was really what cost me this week, the five three-putts the second round, and then just my speed control in general wasn't great. On that hole I had left so many of them short throughout the week, I said, I'm not leaving this one short, I'm going to get this one up there, and instead hit it off the other side of the green where it was really dead there, so that was a mental mistake on my part. Instead of being patient and just accepting eight feet from 40 yards like I do on a 40-yard wedge shot, I instead was a little too aggressive with it when it wasn't necessary.

Q. We've asked you so many times about the history. You even said yesterday you wanted something else no one else has ever done. You still have that chance in the future but it won't be this year. Can you talk about that?
JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know how many guys have done three majors in a year. I'm sure there's only been a few. I know Tiger has done it, and I'm sure Jack has. I don't know that. So that would be the next goal as far as the history goes. Sights set on the PGA Championship, and from here I've got a couple weeks off now, and I'm going to go home and reflect on -- it won't hurt too bad. It's not like I really lost it on the last hole, and 17 was brutally challenging. I just didn't hit a great putt there, and I just picked the wrong wedge out of the bag on 18. I made a lot of the right decisions down the stretch and certainly closed plenty of tournaments out, and this just wasn't one of those. It's hard to do that every single time. I won't beat myself up too bad because I do understand that.

Q. You mentioned yesterday your thoughts on the historic possibilities crept into your head. Did that happen today object the nine back?
JORDAN SPIETH: Not really. No. I knew I needed a birdie to get to 15 at least. My number for the day was to shoot 4-under. I did not expect three guys to get to 15-under today in those conditions. I did not see that happening. That was some phenomenal golf by everyone that was played -- for Adam to get up there quick, too. I guess he fell back, but those guys were up at 15 early on, and that was a similar feeling to last week at the John Deere. I mean, where you may be in the lead, but you know you still have to shoot 5-, 6-under in order to win, I did not see that coming today. There was some fantastic golf in major championship Monday, final round, that doesn't always happen. There was some clutch playing by guys today, so I knew I needed to get another one on the back nine, which is not an easy place to try and steal one. That putt on 16 went in, but none of the historical element came into my head whatsoever because 17 is just so brutal, and 18 is tough to get close. So at that point it's how can we work our butt off to make a 4 on 17 and just give ourselves a putt to win.

Q. For the people who are at home and perhaps couldn't really see what conditions were, can you explain what it felt like with the wind and the rain as you were over that second shot at 17?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, that was -- I thought the rain had kind of subsided for the rest of the day, and then all of a sudden we get up to that second shot, and it was 240 something to the hole, and I don't think I could hit driver that far. Tough little lie. It was kind of on the side downslope. It wasn't a flat lie, and I was trying to sting a 3-iron and just get it up near the front of the green to try and chip it or putt it close. I didn't leave it in a bad spot, and I actually hit a good shot. If I stood on 17 tee box and you told me I had that putt for par on the hole, I would have certainly taken it. I wouldn't say that very often on a par-4. That was as hard a par-4 as I think we've played all year, and just unfortunately didn't hit a great very, very solid putt. So many putts are so straight out here, and I read too much into it instead of just playing it off the left lip, and it was unfortunate at the end. But again, it goes to my point, that was some unbelievable golf that was played by those guys to get to 15-under in these conditions.

Q. It sounds like you're disappointed, as you obviously should be. If you embrace how well you played and really gutted it out to the end, right?
JORDAN SPIETH: I played a great round of golf today. I really played a solid round of golf. I didn't miss many chances, other than No. 8, I thought it was perfect. Obviously 17 and 18 could have been a little different, but I struck the ball phenomenally well, I drove the ball as good as I've driven it this entire year, including the other majors and every other tournament. I've never felt that comfortable with my driver, and really just hit them right on my target line. Yeah, I'm very pleased with the way I played. The way that I played -- I think the way that I played this week and especially today would have won the U.S. Open by more than just a shot. I didn't play as well there. It's just that's the kind of golf that was played by the field this week, it just took some special golf. Whoever comes out the champion, that's a hell of a major.

Q. Yesterday you (inaudible)?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it wasn't 100 per cent. It wasn't the way it felt at Augusta. I just didn't feel like I was getting aligned perfectly. My stroke was good. I had really good practice. On these practice greens you're not able to get a good feel for the touch. It's tough to get pace practice because they're so small, so I didn't have much of it this week, and I kind of had to go off my feels, when typically you've got enough room -- I did plenty of work on the golf course, it's no excuse, but as far as right before the round getting a pace for that day and the conditions and how the greens are cut, it's tough. You have to kind of go with it after you have one long putt. That was the struggle for me in this tournament was what my -- I think my biggest advantage over anybody in the world is, and that's my first putt proximity, and that was -- I think on the lower half of the field this week, and it certainly cost me at least a couple shots.
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