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THE 145TH OPEN

July 15, 2016

Jordan Spieth

Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland

JORDAN SPIETH: We might have caught the rough end of the draw. That happens. Kind of shook it off to an extent at the end of the round. Just tried to smile, tried to enjoy the fact that you don't play in this often. You wish your score didn't matter when you play in this. You wish this was just a round with your buddies where you go into the clubhouse and have one or seven pints afterwards. But we had to post a score today, and I was really pleased with after the frustration of 6 and 8 throwing me back, you know, we were able to play our last, what, six holes at even par, which is a really good score given the conditions we had.

Q. If you had gone in the clubhouse would it have been 1 or 7 now?
JORDAN SPIETH: I think I'll tee off early so somewhere in between (smiling). If I make the cut. If I don't make the cut, you know the answer.

Q. It looks like it's going to be 4.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I just saw Danny stuck one on 17 to maybe make birdie and go to 3-over, so that would be another heartbreak that Danny caused me.

No, I think it might stay. I have a hard time believing -- it's nowhere near what it was a little earlier, so if it stays like this, who knows. I mean, these conditions are all right right now, which is a bit of a bummer. By the time you get to 18 you're like, where's the crap we just played in? Because you want the people behind you to experience it. But yeah, it's true.

But I did what I could at the end. I was told by Michael, "4 is in, 4 is in. Play these last two holes for 4. You don't have to do too much on 16," is what he told me. I still took 3-wood out of the rough, which wasn't a wise play, but it worked out. Then hit two solid shots.

On 18 I was trying to coast it in but make sure that I have a two-putt, because I really did think 4 was in, so I hope I'm right.

Q. The numbers of greens you hit today would not suggest you hit the ball as well as you did yesterday.
JORDAN SPIETH: Correct. Even given the conditions, my greens were obviously going to be down today versus yesterday. But I also didn't have very good control of the golf ball today.

Q. Knowing that, how hard did it make the last (inaudible)?
JORDAN SPIETH: Even harder. I ended up instead of really trying to line up at a target and play a certain shot, those tee balls towards the end of the round, I was just lining up some 40 yards left of the fairway and just putting a swing on it, hey, if it's a little draw or a little fade, it's not going to end up far from each other, and hopefully this is the amount that the wind will blow the golf ball. I ended up hitting the fairway on 18 with that strategy when the wind had died down some. But before that -- it's just as hard to hit a fairway with an iron as it is a driver right now. It may as well be up closer to the green playing the next shot.

Q. Did you spend your morning watching some of this Open Championship and what did you think?
JORDAN SPIETH: I did. I was watching a bit with Justin, Rickie and Jimmy at different points in time. You know, it's tough when we all realise before we go out that you're on kind of what would be the bad end of the draw before you even play your second round. You know weather's coming. It was projected to go from 11 to 1 in rain, which it did, but the wind didn't come, and then the wind came.

So I'm not sure what the actual difference will be, and certainly can't blame my chances on this tournament being the draw, given I could certainly blame the draw if I was playing really well and I was at 3- or 4-under. But at 4-over par my game is not major championship-winning caliber those first two rounds. It just made it pretty interesting and actually somewhat nervous on the last five, six holes because I'd really like to play the weekend, which in all honesty does good stuff for me. If I'm not going to have the nerves of competing on Sunday, I may as well have some kind of nerves, which was grinding to make the cut.

Yeah, I watched some at home. We kept on saying those flags are not moving. I think that line was said quite a few times as we were watching the morning round, which we obviously knew the wind was still there based on the distances and the shots they were hitting, but we knew it wasn't necessarily going to be what we were going to have.

Q. Can you compare these conditions to anything else you've ever experienced in a competitive round?
JORDAN SPIETH: What we had on 16 tee when I looked up and you see the sheets of water moving sideways, legitimately sheets of water moving sideways, man, if I've played in that, it's been over here on a practise round day or I can't remember. I can't remember anything that significant. I can't remember seeing the wind move a ball that much.

My ball in these greens are at a 9 at most by the time the rain had stopped, and my ball on those holes from a foot and a half, two feet I'm hovering the putter because it's kind of getting close to shaking and moving and it's raining.

Those gusts got up to maybe 20, 25 miles an hour, but it's cold. I don't think it got higher than that, but it's a cold, heavy wind. So it plays like it's 40 in the States. Playing shots that I don't even want to hit certain clubs because I can't get my mind right on actually hitting -- like into 16. I can't get my mind to hit a full 8-iron there. I hit a rip 9-iron. I'm in the air and I'm thinking, maybe it's coming down right next to the hole and I've got 45, 50 feet. And normally we're not that far off on recognizing where the ball's coming down. It's just kind of bizarre. Just try to hit it as straight as you can because the distance is that much harder to gauge.

Q. Did you tweak your hand or wrist hitting out of the rough?
JORDAN SPIETH: No, I just stabbed it into the grass and it was just a little stinger for a few moments. I'm fine. I didn't even notice it the rest of the round.

Q. 14 behind, what is the game that you sort of play tomorrow in your head to get yourself motivated?
JORDAN SPIETH: It's worth setting a goal for the weekend. I squeaked by the cut line and it moved out at Olympic Club when I was an amateur, and I played the weekend as good as any. I played at 1-under, which is one of the strongest weekends. Moved into the top 25. I think 4-under might be in the top 10 still. Set a goal to try and shoot maybe 8-under over the next two days and see where that falls.

I'll have to look at the conditions to make a somewhat, lofty, realistic goal. But it's certainly worth shooting after and trying to gain some momentum. Again, at this point if I make the cut, I'm looking to put nice, smooth, solid swings, very confident putts on it to lead into the PGA Championship, because I know my chances here are likely finished.

Q. What do you make of what Phil's done the first two days?
JORDAN SPIETH: Really, really impressive. He's Phil Mickelson though, you know. We all know that guy can do things very few can do. As a legend, Hall of Famer, and won six majors, I think. Now he's -- five majors. Sorry. I may have gotten ahead of myself a couple days there (laughter). But a guy who has won one over here, too. Knows what it's like. He seems to be flighting the ball extremely well, from what I've been able to see. He's working it both ways and he's got great club face control impact, start it right on his lines and working it where he wants to. And I've paid close attention to a couple of the shots, where the ball is above his feet and he's trying to hit this little punch cut, which is a really difficult shot to commit to, and he's hitting it right on target. And he's been talking about how confident he is in the way he's swinging the ball. So he's going to be a tough guy to beat.

Henrik, obviously we know what he can do tee to green, and he seems to be making some putts. But Phil is in control of his game. I'm just waiting for an ace on 8. He's come close enough a couple times. That one wasn't possible when we played it (laughing).

Q. What did you hit on 8?
JORDAN SPIETH: I tried to just rough a pitching wedge, just smash a punch-draw. I'm not real confident chipping anything right now, and I knew if I hit my wedge really solid it could get to maybe 15 feet, 10 feet, and if I didn't, if it was on line, it would have that 30-footer everybody had. I felt like the right club. It was. I just didn't commit to turning it enough.

It's hard to line up at the left bunker there where you know left bunker is dead and rip a draw off the left bunker. I mean, you can't really visualize that on the tee. Some of the shots that have been presented this week are not presented but maybe a couple times in a decade in a tournament, where you're lining up somewhere, and I may be exaggerating, but I haven't experienced some of the shots I've hit this week to line up at a target that is so far off line and work it away from the line you want to hit it on. And that's why you see a lot of bailouts and a lot of balls going with the wind. It's just really hard to commit.

Q. When you say you're not confident chipping, what is it right now?
JORDAN SPIETH: Like hitting a chip 9-iron there or 8-iron. I'm just not -- my club face control isn't where it can be, where it has been. I'm working on it. I'm trying hard. Especially over here on the range, I'm hitting quite a few shots trying to feel confident with it. But when I had that shot out there and I know that no matter what that wedge is on the front of the green, that's kind of where you're playing anyways with that wind, it was the right play.

Tomorrow I might try and get it closer to the hole, but today I had to play for the front of the green. Probably should have chipped it. I don't think I would have made worse than five.

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