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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 24, 2017

Jordan Spieth

Old Westbury, New York

Q. How is your round?
JORDAN SPIETH: I played really well. You know, driving the ball, just like at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, driving the ball is such a key out here. Wider fairways, but you just can't miss them.

Felt like I drove the ball well today. Hit it -- I was hitting it very solid. Hitting it pretty far. Got myself in some really good spots to play from and hit really good shots from there.

I burned high lip, low lip, left lip, right lip today for most of the round, felt like a 4- or 5-under round. Came in at 1, but nice to get one on the last three holes.

Q. Speed control on the greens, biggest challenge today?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, but I'm not going to beat myself up too much about it because these greens are large and have a lot of slope on them, and they are putting these pins, just like at Quail Hollow, in these pretty tough locations where it's very difficult to be below the hole.

So a lot of times you'll have putts that go up and then down and it's very difficult to figure out when the ball is going to stop rolling. You want to get it below the hole and not leave yourself four or five feet downhill but at the same time without running it eight feet by. It's just more difficult to get the speed on these greens than I've found most of the greens we play throughout the year. So I'm not going to beat myself up too much. I started to feel a little bit better at the end of the round today.

Q. On the overall course, what they did to get the course in tournament shape after all the rain --
JORDAN SPIETH: I'm not sure historically what they have been through.

Q. Re-design.
JORDAN SPIETH: I wasn't educated on that but it's in phenomenal shape. Not a blade of grass out of shape. It's cool with all the run-off areas, it's unusual having a course with thick rough, having fairways that flow into other fairways. It's just a really cool look.

Q. Right now Phil is outside the Top-10 for The Presidents Cup standings. Can you envision a scenario where Phil is not playing with you guys next month?
JORDAN SPIETH: I think having been on four teams now and how vital he's been as a team room guy; it would be, it would definitely be a different feeling if he weren't involved somehow.

Q. Who do you think will be the team leader if Phil wasn't that room?
JORDAN SPIETH: Probably Steve Stricker. Isn't that his job? (Laughter).

Q. Player --
JORDAN SPIETH: Someone like Matt Kuchar could be, absolutely. I'm not sure. I'm happy to offer any kind of advice that I could give but I think Matt's probably -- would he be second, DJ. These guys have been on more teams than anybody else.

Q. What did you take away from playing Liberty National earlier this week?
JORDAN SPIETH: It's in beautiful shape. The rough is not extremely high. The only thing that will change is the greens will be firmer and faster but they are in perfect shape to get them firmer and faster in six weeks' time. They had top dressed them and they were just getting over being top dressed. Where we tee off now and the way we play, the routing, I thought they did an awesome job with it and it's going to make these holes, 14 through 18, will be our 10 through 13th holes, which really decide a match; have a pivotal role in deciding a match, are just a beautiful scene and a lot of risk/reward on those holes, too.

Q. What did those guys tell but Shinnecock?
JORDAN SPIETH: Not much. I barely saw them there. I played four holes with Justin and Rickie before they were done and I played the rest of my round late we are Strick and they left to go do their other thing. So I haven't talked to them about Shinnecock. I guess they played it well, though, from what I saw somewhere. No shock.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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