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SBS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 6, 2017

Jordan Spieth

Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii

Q. Nine birdies, five in a row at one point and then you lose five shots on two holes. What's your paramount thought on the round?
JORDAN SPIETH: It's all there. It's all there. I wedged the ball tremendous today. Yesterday I was 30 feet on average with a wedge, so big improvement there. Made a couple putts there which was nice.

Just hit a foul ball and then just rushed a couple holes when I got into trouble instead of just taking my time, and maybe a bit of rust after four or five weeks off.

All in all, really happy to see that amount of birdies. That's positive going forward, because the other stuff is a little easier to clean up.

Q. Some folks might harp on those two bad holes.
JORDAN SPIETH: Most probably will.

Q. But you're not. Is it difficult to not look back on this round and not look at the negatives?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it will be difficult, just because we were in contention, and now pretty surely out of it.

So it's a bummer not to really have a chance to win after two rounds. I'll probably be about ten shots back by the end of the day. And we were there. So just really one hiccup swing trying to just pound one on 17. That will be a bummer.

But ultimately if we can focus on the nine birdies and figure out a way to do that tomorrow, I feel like the other stuff, it was a little bit of a learning curve on that and I'll be a little bit focused on each and every tee shot to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Q. Nice nine birdies.
JORDAN SPIETH: Thank you, yeah. Wedged the ball really well today. Had a lot of really short putts for birdie. I mean, inside of six, seven feet, after having wedges in my hand; that was my struggle yesterday.

Been driving the ball really well when I commit to my swing and don't try and do too much. My speeds are down a little bit now and they have been for the last week and a half, two weeks.

So on these last couple holes, when you really need to get it out there, I just got a little too aggressive on 17 just trying to rip it. Just hit a big toe hook into the hazard, and then rushed it from there. So that was a bit of a bummer. But very pleased with the nine birdies knowing that that's there and it's possible still without putting really being up to par for me.

Missed a couple short putts in there, too. That could have been 11 on the day.

Q. Kind of a bad break on 8 to get in the bunker.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, so 8 was a really tough break, and I was really frustrated walking off. I was probably more frustrated walking off there than I was 17, just because I hit a really solid 7-iron. It just got taken a little by the wind. And if it were only a yard further or a couple yards right, it was a putt at birdie.

Instead it just creeped back into a horrible lie in the downslope of the bunker and then it buried into the first cut because it had so much spin on it. It was almost like a plug lie in the rough on the next and I couldn't hold the green.

I actually made a pretty good five there, all things considered, without really missing a shot. So that was really frustrating, because it wasn't really a mis-execution.

But bounced back on the next five holes. Michael set a new goal. Said let's try and get five the rest of the day. We got five on the next five. Certainly kept setting goals from there. And then just a foul ball on 17.

Q. How do you use a week like this just to build momentum for things ahead?
JORDAN SPIETH: Ideally, in contention, and you see a strong finish.

But this is next best: To be making birdies, sewing shots get close to the hole, seeing good lines off the tee and then just having some mishaps that could happen early after a break. That's the kind of stuff that dwindles down as you kind of get into the rhythm of a season, at least what I've seen the last couple years.

I'm not known for making big numbers and it seems to be a thing that's happened in the last year and a half or so, maybe by trying to do a little too much. So you live and learn, and as, again, as we go into next week, right, I can take rounds like today as positives versus negatives; knowing that those other little things that are going to stop, but those nine birdies plus are going to keep happening.

Q. Has it gotten it easier filtering out the two mistakes, as opposed to focusing on the nine birdies, over the last couple seasons?
JORDAN SPIETH: Well, yeah, I mean, you recognize that it's, whatever, one in hundreds of rounds you're going to play. It was a colorful one. You're going to have rounds like this. I guess looking at the big picture, I certainly understand that this is going to happen.

But at the same time, you know, these are rounds of what-could-have-been. That didn't need to happen. If I get that bounce on 8 and I just hit an average tee shot on 17, I shoot 9-under or better. Those are the rounds I want to see is the ones without the mistake, obviously.

So it will tough to look back thinking, even with that double, if I just close out the last two holes normal, I'm actually in contention in this tournament without having really anything to go off of yesterday's.

I'll struggle for the next couple hours getting over 17 kind of throwing me out of the tournament. Just feel like it's going to be too big of an uphill battle. But I can get myself, probably 12- to 14-under par the next two days and finish in the top 5, so that becomes the next goal.

Q. What did you have when you dropped there?
JORDAN SPIETH: We rushed. Michael went off the front box. Said something like we had 220 to the end before adjustment.

What we should have done was take the time for us to sit back, look at the options, make sure that this next shot's in play and have Michael maybe walk off the 185-, 190-some-odd yards we had to the end and, say, hey, this needs to pitch at 160. I just took a 7-iron, caught a flyer and ripped it, thinking I had way more than I did.

Those are numbers you don't necessarily grab. We just didn't take our time, at all. It was kind of a rookie move to just step up and just be frustrated and hit something I don't normally make. But I also hit -- I mean, hitting a ball where I did on 17 with about a 95-yard fairway is as bad a shot as I'll hit this year.

So that was pretty frustrating, but at the same time, after, what, four or five years on TOUR, I should know, you can save yourself a shot by taking your time. Fortunately it's in this event. It doesn't cause me to miss a cut or miss a tournament, so I can rebound.

Q. You talked about your short irons. Did you take some confidence from that third hole, to stuff one close.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I had a really good lob-wedge number there. So I would say, there's a couple shots I had today that were in that range that I've been working on, sawing some off. If I can commit to a wedge and hit it full, that hasn't been a problem. It's when I'm trying to punch one and really distance control it on my gap yardages.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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