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DELL TECHNOLOGIES CHAMPIONSHIP

September 3, 2017

Jordan Spieth

Boston, Massachusetts

JORDAN SPIETH: I didn't believe 5-under would be two back. I thought it was playing more difficult today. The round that J.T. shot was fantastic. I thought I played really solid golf, and you know, couldn't have shot a whole lot better.

I had one that was going to about a foot or in on seven that hit the pin and ricocheted it back, so that was a stroke. But played awesome golf.

I thought four back starting the day, if I could cut that in half, then that would be a tremendous goal. So goal achieved, maybe.

Q. How much did the rain affect this golf course?
JORDAN SPIETH: A lot, especially as the round went on. Yesterday I hit 3-wood, 5-iron into 18. Today it was driver, 3-wood. That will tell you right there. It was a different course, for sure.

Q. Did you think twice about that 3-wood?
JORDAN SPIETH: No. I was a little surprised at how short it carried. In my mind, I was trying to hit kind of a banana cut there, landed on the front of the green. I knew, it was actually a good number for me. That was as good as I could hit it, and if I missed it, it wasn't going to carry, you know, but maybe five or six yards shorter and still be okay. I wasn't worried too much about it.

Q. How were the conditions, and have you become a better player in the rain?
JORDAN SPIETH: I have the last couple years. I just stopped looking at it negatively, which I did the first couple years out here and started just recognizing that there's no other way around it. You have a tee time; you have to go play, so go play.

Yeah, it was wet. We had a constant rain pretty much the whole day. I think we had two downpours and two breaks. So that's rare. We typically see -- we've been playing in a lot of rain for nine holes, and then nothing, or they call us off for electricity. But to play in a constant rain; we had a bit of that in England this year and we had it at East Lake a couple years back. It's rare. It was like a mist. It kind of felt good. I was warm in this sweater. It wasn't too bad.

Q. When you're in the mix in your long, illustrious PGA TOUR career, do you ever look at names, or do you just look at numbers?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I certainly look at names, yeah. It makes a difference on how I feel they are either going to finish out the round or the potential for the score the next day. Maybe that's, you know, shallow of me to think that way. But historically, that's what it's looked like.

Especially look at the winners of these Playoff events and how it's shaped -- last year, Rory won here. You see these names, just the names that have won many times come through and win in these style of events or major championship-type events.

I mean, there is a heightened something to these Playoff events that bring out, you know, certain champions, for the most part. Guys who have won earlier this year, or earlier in that year multiple times; I mean, in 2015 it went J-Day, Rickie, J-Day, me, and that was kind of -- J-Day and I won five times, and Rickie had won three times that year, three or four times. So you kind of start to see that in these events.

So when I see on the top of the board it's J.T. and DJ is up there, I've played a lot of golf with Leish, it's going to be tough, and Rahm, who won earlier this year -- well, he's won twice. It's going to be a throw down tomorrow. It's going to be a completely different style of golf than we saw last week on Sunday.

Q. Along those lines, any explanation for why the creme of the crop has been winning these FedExCup events over the last few years?
JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know, I imagine you know there's more at stake and maybe that just plays a role, and so a little bit more experience in the bigger events or having a chance to win bigger events brings it up.

I felt very calm today, more than I did last week, personally, and don't expect to feel many nerves, unless I can work my way into or tied or close to the lead on the back nine tomorrow. So I think just a little more sense of calm with certain players that allows them to free up.

Q. First time playing with Patrick Cantlay?
JORDAN SPIETH: We played in Puerto Rico. We were trying to figure out when the last time we played together -- 2013 Puerto Rico before either one of us had status -- he might have, back then. But it had been a while. We played a lot of golf and amateur golf together. If he had the full year this year, I would imagine he'd have been on The Presidents Cup team, no question. He's extremely talented and he's going to work his way up into the Top-10 in the world in my opinion.

Q. How many events has he played in?
JORDAN SPIETH: This is his 11th.

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