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DELL TECHNOLOGIES CHAMPIONSHIP

September 4, 2017

Jordan Spieth

Boston, Massachusetts

Q. Looked like just a couple of putts, came close and didn't drop for you on the back nine?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I hit some great putts on the back nine. You know, 10, 10 wasn't a great putt and everything after that was really good. Thought they were going in. Just didn't quite go in. Either dove off or held straight or whatever it was. It was close.

But obviously a dream start, and then you're not going to keep pace and shoot, you know, 54. So at some point, you've got to recognize the difficult holes are coming up, and honestly, it was just a difference of -- and it happened yesterday, too. My long irons got off. I just didn't -- I had three 5-irons out of four holes on the back nine. Didn't hit the green with any of them.

When that happened, you know, I dropped two shots on those holes, and ultimately that was the difference-maker.

Q. What about the shot on 12?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I had to try and hit a high hook around the tree but it was just sitting in a little bit of a depression, and from there --

Q. What was that third shot?
JORDAN SPIETH: That third shot, I played like a bunker shot that was on mulch, yeah. I did a great job just to make a five after where that second shot went.

Q. Was there a particular thought you had when the shots --
JORDAN SPIETH: I've been striking the ball well. I didn't think anything was going wrong. I got unlucky on 12, and from there, the one on 14 was just a bad swing, and that one really hurt. I brought it back on 13. 14 was the difference-maker for me. That one was a tough one because I really did a good job.

Q. What's your frame of mind after coming close the last couple weeks?
JORDAN SPIETH: Things are in good shape. It's just a matter of -- things are in really good shape. It's just a matter of closing it out. You know, last week I had a chance and ran into Dustin.

This week, you know, I think I was tied on the back nine at one point, me through 13, and then Justin through 13. But ultimately had a number in mind and needed a couple more to get there.

Q. Does it feel like last week at all? I know you weren't paired with J.T. but did it feel like last week at all?
JORDAN SPIETH: No, not exactly. I'm not going to be as down on myself as I was last week. I beat myself up -- not beat myself up, but I was upset after last week, really having a good opportunity and felt like the shot I hit on 6 brought everyone back in when I could have cruised throughout the rest of the round.

It wasn't the case today. Came out firing like I said we had to do, and as we turned 8 through 14 is the meat of the golf course, you want to get through even. I got through over par and didn't get any coming in when I hit some good putts.

I'm pleased with the way I finished off. They just didn't quite go in.

Q. You and Justin were on similar career trajectories -- did you ever get the sense that Justin was jealous or trying to catch up to where you were --
JORDAN SPIETH: No, never, ever got that sense whatsoever from him. Just always kept his head down and work hard, and it's certainly paying off.

Q. What does it say about him that he didn't get jealous of what his good friend is accomplishing in the professional ranks while he's trying to get there?
JORDAN SPIETH: Jealous isn't the word but he probably had some feelings of anxiousness, right. Just wanting to have those opportunities, wanting to get into the spots. I just started earlier than he did on TOUR.

He's just a couple years -- like a couple years ago -- I feel like we're very similar calibre of player, and I just got a couple years of experience head start. You want to get yourself in those positions, and you learn a lot from wins and losses.

Obviously he's become a tremendous closer, and what he did today -- so, yeah, it's tough when you've got somebody that's that good and hot and can close, and he's two shots ahead of you starting the day. Hats off to him.

Q. Would it be critical with your relationship -- you would never have seen Tiger do that or Phil or any of the other guys. Do you feel comfortable in saying that's just who you guys are?
JORDAN SPIETH: I just think we grew up together. I think that happens with the people that -- I mean, you grow up and you watch each other work from when you're 14 years old. We roomed together when we were 14 years old. He's one of my best friend in the whole world.

Phil and Tiger, if you're going to use that as an example, they didn't grow up together, room together, all that stuff, stay in touch through college and play in the same tournaments. I think it's just a different situation when you kind of grow up, spend a lot of time. Justin and Rick, they live on the same street and they spend most of their time at home together.

I'm not saying that -- no, I wouldn't say that's who we are by any means. I would say we're very close friends just because of the time we spend on and off the course together in a pretty unique position at our age in what we do for a living.

We can share experiences with each other that we can't really describe or explain to anybody else that's our age, or very few, I should say, and it creates a unique relationship.

Q. Does it also create the ability to be better than you maybe would have been if you didn't have each other --
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think so for sure. I think within our class, within our 2011 high school class, we were very prepared right when we entered college. You saw, I mean, me and Justin went 1, 2 in the rankings as freshmen. That's like essentially Heisman trophy winners being the top two voters, right. The Haskins Award is the Heisman trophy of college golf.

We were very prepared based on the competition that we had through high school, let alone then through college, and when we're out here, we're just I think more prepared than other people may have been, going back a few years. And the only reason I say that is by just the amount of success that we have been able to have at a young age.

Q. Do you remember the first time you went, maybe not head-to-head, but it came down to either you or Justin?
JORDAN SPIETH: I couldn't tell you the first time -- yes, actually I can. It was Walnut Creek. It was an AJGA junior All-Star event. I was 134 and he may have turned 14. I think he might still have been 13. We played -- that was one of my first AJGA events. It was like the 12- to 15-year-old age group and he travelled in and we battled it out on Sunday and we were about tied and I edged him out that day. We played a few more tournaments throughout the year and went back and forth.

Q. Is Riviera still a great memory?
JORDAN SPIETH: Riviera is a great memory. I'll have that one on him every time we're there. But he got his Natty (National Championship) the next year.

Q. If you don't win the FedExCup, how would you characterize your season?
JORDAN SPIETH: Even if I do win it, I'll call it the second-best year I've had. I'm hitting the ball as good or better consistently as I've ever hit it. And my putter, it's starting to come around. I tried to mess with things for most of the year and I just stopped trying to mess with it and just set the putter right down and hit it right there; and if it goes in, great; and if it doesn't, then it doesn't.

I've putted so much better from inside ten feet this week than I have this entire year. It's a big confidence boost for me, so it's very close. I'm very close to the level I played in 2015. These two weeks I just had were way better than 2015. I went home early both weeks. When I'm comparing it to my best year, I'm on a very similar level to the way I was playing, but accolade-wise, there's just no way to get to that at this point.

Q. 8 and 9, did you feel the momentum go out when you missed those?
JORDAN SPIETH: I thought I had good chances. 9 I got so caught up in how it was going to break that I forgot all about the speed. I regretted that one. 8, I hit a great putt, too.

At that point I'm 6-under through nine thinking, let's get two birdies by 18, is what we were trying to say. I thought that I needed six today to be in a playoff, and when we were six through nine, I thought, let's try and get two by 18 and see where we're at. But everybody else was going so low.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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