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HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 7, 2016

Jordan Spieth

Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii

ALEX URBAN: Jordan, 7-under par today. No bogeys on the card. Take us through your round. You obviously got off to a good start. Played with Patrick. You guys seemed to feed off each other out there. Take us quickly through the round.

JORDAN SPIETH: I started on No. 1 tee box and I hit a drive -- no, it's a --

(Laughter.) It was the -- one of the only first tee shots I still get nervous on is the first one of the season. So it's always nice to feel that rush there.

The putt on 2 was a nice way to get started in the season. And from there just wanted to just make it like it was, just I mentioned earlier, just a continuation, just another event in the course of a career.

Calendar may have changed, but only off of a short break, my play should stay the same in my mind. I got a nice long putt there and then couple 2-putt birdies on the front nine. Made the turn and hit a wedge close, got just a little sloppy around 12, 11, 12, 13, kind of 14 tee box and then from there on in it was pretty solid again.

I'm very pleased with the rhythm we got into today for it being the first round, first round back after one of the longer breaks. I was a little anxious to get started considering I've been here for a week. If I could just kind of fine tune just a little bit with everything, just kind of narrow the gap, get a little -- those mid irons to short irons just maybe half the distance to the hole that they were, give me a little better look at making a couple more putts. But shoot 7-under each round, you're going to be in pretty good business after four.

ALEX URBAN: Questions?

Q. Again, talking about the continuation and so forth. Do you feel like when you were out there that mentally you were sort of just back in the same mode too?
JORDAN SPIETH: I did, yeah.

Q. The concentration came kind of easy?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, which was pleasing. It was nice that that was the feeling. The reason I say I feel like I want it to be a continuation is just because any time it's not, any time it's mentioned that it's a new year, it's almost, the questions that are asked are, how in the world are you going to do what you did last season. Well, I mean I should get a little better each time I go and practice, right? So it almost feels like it's negative to think about it as trying to create an encore or to just stay in a rhythm and that's exactly what it felt like today.

Q. Did it help that Patrick was playing well and pushing you and you had to push back?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, sure. Patrick could have shot 13-under today. I mean, if he had his putter going at the start of the round, he missed quite a few pretty short length putts on the front nine or he should have shot really 5-under on that front nine. But it definitely helps. For whatever reason it is, whether we want to feed off each other or we want to beat the crap out of each other, we somehow play well together. We still want to out do each other even when we're teammates in a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. So it's a good pairing. I certainly hope to continue this pairing, because it didn't look like he was going to start letting up, 6-under on the last 6, with starting to find that putter, seems to me that he has a nice rhythm on his swing, he's got a nice little tight draw, which is, when he's playing his best, that's the ball flight he's hitting. And he hit a couple fantastic shots today. But, yeah, it's definitely easy to feed off of when you're playing with somebody that's playing well as well as someone who you played well with for a number of years now.

Q. Along the same lines, going back to Gleneagles, you two paired so well together. Is there a relationship in there that kind of goes to the fact that you two are so competitive?
JORDAN SPIETH: Probably.

Q. And you're cut from the same mold. I know you're very different people, but you seem, competitive-wise, cut from the same mold.
JORDAN SPIETH: I can't really put my finger on it. I've talked with Michael a little bit about it, why exactly do we mesh well as a best ball partner, make a lot of birdies together. We have been competitive with each other going back to amateur golf days. We were in contention quite a few times together in events. On TOUR, he got me when I think I may have deserved it on the last hole of the Wyndham, the final hole that he made birdie. I thought I had him there. Kind of left an itch on me to want to get that tournament back in the Valspar. Any time Patrick loses in a head to head format, you're not going to see somebody that's that upset for a very long time. He hates it. I mean, he hates losing in a match play situation. And so I guess each time we're together we almost feel like we're playing each other in a match. I don't know, maybe he doesn't, but that's what I think of it, that's why I think we play well together. We're certainly wanting each other to play well, to push ourselves about you I don't like losing to him in a round when I play with him.

Q. Which putts give you the most trouble out here? Long into the grain or long down grain?
JORDAN SPIETH: Typically uphill into the grain putts. Whether it's short, long, you just really got to hit it. I played a couple putts today -- trickiest reads for me were ones where the entire mountain and grain is going one way, but you're on the back side -- like putts like I had on 17. I had one where that back side of that green's pitched back the other way. You want to play gravity, but you know there's an effect from the hill, from the slope and the -- you know there's an effect from the gradual slope down the mountain and the grain. And each time I try to almost out smart it and play it towards the water and it actually turned back into the hill. So I'll keep a note of that. But for the most part, if you're hitting anything from really five feet out into the grain uphill, it is just tough to hit hard enough. Especially in the last group because they get a little spiked up and they're even slower.

Q. And since we're on the topic of losing, which loss just absolutely destroyed you the most?
JORDAN SPIETH: In my life?

Q. In your life.
JORDAN SPIETH: I made a double or triple on the last hole with a two-shot lead to a kid when I was 10.

Q. Eddie DeVane?
JORDAN SPIETH: Eddie DeVane. That one. Yeah.

Q. Which one after were you 12?
JORDAN SPIETH: You know, Puerto Rico wasn't a tough loss. I would say the Masters in 2014. That was the toughest loss I've had. Now it opened up a lot of doors for me, that's why it's, you can look at it a couple ways. But in my mind, when I look back now, that would be it.

Q. How do you handle losing?
JORDAN SPIETH: I don't throw things or anything. I go back and -- it just kind of sits deep within me. Just like an anger. But, fortunately, it makes me want to get out there and work a bit harder, just without really thinking about it. Which I think is helpful and useful and I think everyone out here has that same kind of, for the most part, when things don't go their way, it drives them a little or else they wouldn't be out here.

ALEX URBAN: Jordan, thanks for your time and good luck the next three days.

JORDAN SPIETH: All right. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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