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THE 145TH OPEN

July 14, 2016

Jordan Spieth

Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland

Q. What was going on with your putting today?
JORDAN SPIETH: That's a question I almost never get asked, so because of that, I'm not thinking much of it. My stroke's been great heading into here. Putted tremendously at Akron. I think maybe led strokes gained. Feel like it's in the same place here. Just I think if I make the one on number 1, I shoot 6-under today. It's just one of those that you see it go in, you believe in how you hit the putt, you match the speed and the lineup, that belief is there throughout the front nine.

Struck the ball tremendously well, just couldn't quite match up the speed and line. I'd leave three or four just short and low, and then I'd just hit one a little too hard and high. So that happens. Unfortunate to happen, obviously, in a tournament round where I'm giving myself a lot of looks at birdie. But if that's what's off, that's a lot better than anything else I can get that back on.

Q. What is the best way of describing this round for you?
JORDAN SPIETH: Very much improved tee to green. It just seemed like it just didn't want to go in the hole once I got on the greens. Even when I did, No. 11, I hit a fantastic putt that if I hit another five times in a row on the exact same line, same speed it probably goes in three out of the five. It's just with the greens the speeds they are and the grass a little taller than what we're used to, the ball kind of wiggles a little bit and that can mean it wiggles in for you or out for you. I would get over after a few of them on the front nine, I would start to get over-thinking, I'm going to try to hit this with the right pace and line. I don't know if it's going to go in or not. Maybe I get the right -- versus normally, if I hit this with the right pace and line, it's in the hole. Just your mind gets off a little bit once you feel like you hit a few putt that's don't go in.

It's okay. It's nothing major. I struck the ball as well as I've struck it since Hawaii, maybe. I really hit the ball phenomenally well today. I probably hit it as well as anybody in the field and shot five, six shots over the leader, so that normally doesn't happen for me. That's normally my really low round. So if I can keep my rhythm and my swing as we lead into these tougher condition days, the next couple days, I should be able to make up some strokes.

Q. Is part of you anxious knowing you have perfect scoring conditions yet not to get more out of it?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. I went 2-under through six, which I thought was average with what we were thinking. If I was making any putts I'd be 4. If I got into some trouble on a hole or two maybe I'm even, so I thought that was all right. Then 8 and 9 kind of hurt me there. Instead of playing those 1-under par, I play them 1-over par, where I really didn't miss a shot.

But, yeah, you look at the board and see guys 5-under through six and you know you're certainly capable of doing that. By the time No. 9 was over, it's a little frustrating knowing you're turning back into the wind now.

We kept our head down. My bogies, the only bogey that was really deserved was the one on 18. 11 I hit what I thought was a decent line and it just got caught in a bush and had to hack it out and hit a great putt that just stayed on the lip. So it's very, very close. Just really close to clicking. Really happy tee to green.

Q. Talk us through 18, Jordan, and the lie and the position.
JORDAN SPIETH: I was okay. I was on trampled ground. I got a drop from the scoreboard. I was in between clubs a little bit. Not sure if it was going to jump or not, so I played for it. It came out just kind of spinning up to the left, which wasn't the miss. If you miss it right there, you make par all day. It was a little bit too aggressive, given the position I was in trying to get a birdie putt instead of great if you have a birdie putt, but if you miss, miss it right. On my pitch it was a putt all day. I would have putted it, no question. But it was a really deep sprinkler head that was directly in my line about a pace off the green, so I couldn't putt it. And I couldn't pitch it up the green with a 52 degree or a 9-iron, because it's still on the ground by the time I get to the sprinkler head.

So my only option off that bare ground was to try to use a 60 degree and get it to hop over it. And I just left it a pace short of what would have been a tap-in. So a bit unlucky there, but I deserve to be there after obviously the tee shot and the second shot. Yeah, unfortunate finish, but, again, I feel really good about where I'm at right now with my golf game because I have been putting so well and I've been working really hard on my tee-to-green game and it was there.

Q. How are the conditions for tomorrow?
JORDAN SPIETH: Unsure yet because you just don't know what you're going to get here in Scotland. If it's what's forecasted, it looks like we have rain while we're warming up and it might start to diminish as we start, and then come back in on the back nine, but an opposite wind. So instead of looking at trying to take advantage of those early holes on the front nine, you're looking at, okay, par is a good score. Let's find the middle of the greens here and see if we can get our putter into a rhythm. So that will change. Be less aggressive on the front nine and potentially more on the back.

Q. (Inaudible).
JORDAN SPIETH: It's harder than the front nine, for sure. Is it tough? If there were no wind, then it wouldn't be too bad, but with the wind into from the left, that's always a hard wind for a right-hander. Got a couple tougher driving holes. Even today's light wind, now it looks like it's going to switch to the south, south, southwest the rest of the week, which will make it down off the left. Which, if it's wet, isn't necessarily easier off the tee. You've got to really be focused on a specific target because you let it slide a little and the ball could go forever to the right. But it definitely makes the back nine more scorable.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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