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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 6, 2018Jordan SpiethAugusta, Georgia MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are pleased to welcome back to the interview room Jordan Spieth. Jordan, tough conditions out there today, a little bit of a rough start. Came back nicely. Two birdies on your second nine on No. 13 and No. 15. Can you tell us about your round today and how you're feeling about going into tomorrow. JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I just had two really bad tee shots to start the day the first two holes, and then the course was very difficult today. The conditions made it challenging, as well. I felt like I hit some really good shots on a lot of holes and just got kind of gusted by an opposite wind, or were one or two yards away from being phenomenal. Therefore, I didn't have very many really good birdie looks. I only had, you know, less than half a dozen, four or five decent birdie looks the entire round. So to come back from 3‑over through two holes and only shoot 2‑over with a limited number of looks, it's not so bad. I'm still in this golf tournament. With the way the back nine was played today, the wheels could have come off there, but I made some nice par saves and was able to grind out some phenomenal second‑shot iron shots and good 2‑putt birdies. Q. How do you think the rain will affect things tomorrow, and if there's a delay, what are you going to do to kill the time? JORDAN SPIETH: I'm not sure. It didn't say‑‑ the last thing I saw forecasted was a quarter of an inch, maybe half an inch, which I think that would just be a light, steady rain that we would probably be playing through. If there's a delay, it will certainly soften up the course. And the one thing that this place, you've kind of got to look out for because the fairways are all mowed into the grain, everything is mowed into the grain, is you will see some mud balls over the next two days. Maybe not while it's raining tomorrow, but on Sunday. So you kind of have to be aware. There's nothing you can do about it. You've just got to be aware, and obviously it becomes a tactical golf course when the conditions get tougher or you're presented with kind of tough breaks like that, and I think that's an advantage for me. I feel like I tactically play this golf course very well. But I'm not sure what to expect. If there's a rain delay, I'll be resting. This weekend, you know, in contention at the Masters is nothing new to me, and therefore I won't be extremely anxious, I don't think. Q. What do you consider the most important either shot or hole you had today, and why? JORDAN SPIETH: I thought that my 2‑putt save on No.9 was really, really big today. I would have shot 5‑over on the front nine. I hit a really good tee shot down the right center of the fairway, and I got up there and it was sitting down in the right rough by a foot, and it just kind of seemed like that was the way the day was going. And I played a shot left of the hole, so I knew that if it did catch a jumper, I could at least get it down there with a good look at par, and it did fly out of there, and I had just a fantastic 2‑putt from over the green there in the‑‑ I say 2‑putt. It really was an up‑and‑down, and my second putt there, when that went in, I thought, okay, forget about everything that's happened here. Let's try and shoot 2‑under on the back nine. And that was the goal, and that's‑‑ you know, I almost did one better there. Just the putt on 18 slipped by. 9, to answer your question. Q. You've praised Tony Finau's game in the past. I wonder what you thought what he's doing with a couple torn ligaments in his ankle? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I saw the video. It's tough to watch. He's a tough guy. He's got the game to win major championships, no question. Really, I don't know if I've actually ever played a tournament round with him, though. But I've watched him and really admired his game from afar. He would be where he is no matter what. Sometimes it's kind of nice to have‑‑ nobody wants torn ligaments, but every now and again, if something is kind of bothering you or you're not feeling so well, sometimes it brings the expectations down and frees you up. I'm not sure if that has any effect on him. I'm not saying by any means what he did is good for his game, because I know that it's tough to get into his left side and probably limits his power. It probably limits his power, which is an advantage of his game. But he's probably‑‑ you know, the thoughts are off of the tournament and more on to just being as healthy as he can. Q. He said something just like that. JORDAN SPIETH: Okay. There you go. Maybe I'll fall down the stairs walking out. (Laughter). Q. I'd love to hear what Jordan was saying to Jordan on the third tee. JORDAN SPIETH: This is an easy tee shot; you can't screw this one up. (Laughter). It washit a fade from that TV tower to that TV tower and get up there and hit a pitch shot close. That's what I was saying to myself on the tee. Q. Were you mad at Jordan after the first two holes? JORDAN SPIETH: I've taken a lot of punches on this golf course, and in tournaments in general. I told Michael, "Look, when this course plays tough, I'm good for a double here or some bogeys there. Let's make these the only ones." He was really good at saying, "Man, you always take punches out here and come back stronger." That's kind of what he was saying. Okay, now we're on 3, we've got a birdie hole here and we can get it back to maybe 1‑over at the turn and then still shoot under par on the day, was kind of‑‑ we did regroup and kind of talk about that, think about that. Q. Sort of along the same lines, do you think if you're 3‑over through two on about any other golf course that you would have a different mentality for the rest of the day, or do you have a certain comfort here that you can handle it more? JORDAN SPIETH: I think it's very dependent on where the scores are, and the fact that even par is such a good score out here. It didn't affect me as much because I know that people are going to make bogeys and doubles. Obviously through three holes out here, the idea is to try and be under par, so that was frustrating, knowing that they were‑‑ those holes, if you bogey 10,11, and you go to 12 tee, it's like, okay, well, you know, those are really hard holes. Let's try and get those back. But it has nothing to do with this place specifically. It's more of par has been a really good score and I'm in a really good position at this point in time. I need to recognize that and not try and force anything, because the second you try and force things out here is when you get to, like I did on 7, trying to carve one in by the hole, you end up plugged in a bunker making another bogey. So it only affected me one shot trying to force things there, fortunately, and I learned from that. Q. Was 7 a moment of impatience? That was going to be my question. Are the conversations you have with yourself and Michael the key to maintaining your patience on a day like this? JORDAN SPIETH: You know, most of it, the commitment to certain targets, certainly Michael has an influence, too, but I need to be very committed, too. I thought I had a really good number to carve one in, and when we were talking about it, we were‑‑ you know, it's one of those where I've kind of asked Michael to take a stance of a conservative route, but I also am going to play the game and the shots that I know based on my feel are necessary to produce the lowest score, with his influence. I got a little tentative on that swing when I know‑‑ problem was is the last couple holes, previous couple holes, I hit phenomenal shots and got gusted on winds, so I didn't know if I should play the dominant wind or what I'm feeling, and the dominant wind was into off the right and I'm feeling down off the right. And so I just bailed out a little on the shot. It was one that was an in‑between number. I had to take some off of it, off a pitching wedge, into a really tiny area where you have to be pretty precise. I just didn't trust kind of my instincts there. I went and‑‑ then I got a really tough break. If it's a good lie in the bunker, I can get that one up‑and‑down. It was fried egged, and I did pretty well to actually make 5. Q. A quick follow. Doesn't Michael have "Trust your instincts" written down in the yardage book? JORDAN SPIETH: I haven't seen it in the yardage book. It might be in his. He might be telling himself to trust his own instincts. I know that's something he's been saying to me. Yeah, I mean, I just played a couple shots today that I kind of caught a couple toe balls early, so it was more an execution into the swing. I was kind of squatting into the swing. It wasn't situational. It wasn't, hey, I'm leading the Masters and I did this. It was simply this was a tendency I've been having on my swing, and I hit the first one way off the toe and the second one was a toe‑hook and then I got kind of into some good posture and hit better shots after that. Q. What percentage of what you salvaged this round is from golfing skill and what percentage is mental discipline and experience? JORDAN SPIETH: Probably half and half, I would say. I'm not going to downgrade my skill level, but I'm also not going to downgrade my ability to take punches and fight back on this course. Good starts are really nice out here. Bad starts are tough to come back from. If I look at it one way, I mean, in 2016, I went bogey, bogey, quad and then was able to rebound from that going 2‑under almost‑‑ well, 1‑under, I bogeyed 17, but very well could have been 3‑ or 4‑under after six after something like that. So what's the first couple holes on a Friday start mean? It doesn't really mean much to me. It means let's figure out what was wrong and fix it, but it's not going to affect the outcome of this tournament off of those two holes. I'm still in a great position. Q. Can you describe your second and third shot on No.2? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I got over there and didn't really have a stance in the pine straw, and I really rushed my second shot on 2. It cost me a shot, no question. I rushed my second shot there. I took a 4‑iron out and I didn't have a follow through at all. But what I could have done was taken like a 3‑wood further right and just kind of just blasted one. It was kind of fluffy pine straw and I had a bunch of mud on the right side of the ball, and you wouldn't think on a punch shot it affects it much, but I hit it and all of a sudden the ball goes in this big, low hook, and then my third shot was a fantastic shot to hit the green. Because it was in the rough and I had to hit a big hook with a 6‑iron, and if I left it short right, that's a really tough spot. Obviously I probably would have made the same score, but it was a really good shot on the third shot. I really rushed the second shot up there. Q. On the shot on 13 out of the pine straw over the water, have you done that enough now that you're confident, or is that still kind of a scary shot? JORDAN SPIETH: After I hit it when I was walking to the green, I was like, why didn't I feel more scared over that shot? Like why didn't that shot bother me? There was a tree, I had a clean shot, but I was looking straight into a tree. So from where I was standing, the angle I'm looking at, the tree was right in line with me and the hole, and that's very difficult to commit to. I had 210 to the hole with a left‑to‑right wind maybe a little into, and I just ripped a 4‑iron. But I thought if I just, you know, committed to good, solid contact and if I hook it, it has enough to carry to pin‑high, and if I hit it long left, I'm okay, and I felt like that was the best position. Anywhere on the green or left of the green was an easier position than even a full wedge to that pin. I didn't think it was too bad. And when I hit it and it started to hook, I knew it was a really good shot. Just when I was walking up, I'm like, man, that was a really, really difficult shot to pull off, and I don't know why‑‑ I didn't have any nerves. I just kind of stepped up and hit it. It was probably the quickest shot I hit today, which is weird. MODERATOR: Thank you, Jordan, and good luck tomorrow. JORDAN SPIETH: Appreciate it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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