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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 25, 2018

Jordan Spieth

Paramus, New Jersey

Q. What was working so well today for you?
JORDAN SPIETH: I thought mentally, I rebounded from No. 1 really well. I had 71 yards in the middle of the fairway to the middle of the pin and made bogey and that was frustrating to drop to 1-under and I think like 60th place or something at the time.

Missed the green on 2.

So I was just in a position there where it was frustrating, and I thought I did a great job of putting two great swings on it on 3 and hitting a wedge in tight, feeling like I got back on track there.

Then I really found kind of the setup that I used to putt with. I've been searching for it for a long time and I found close to, you know, 100 percent of it. It felt really good over the ball with the putter, and that's why I started to run those mid-rangers in, because that line and speed was a lot easier to match up because my eyes were seeing where the putter blade was pointing.

Just the stuff that I had been searching for, I had been making a lot of progress over the last month with the putter and today was a round where finally, the results came through. I haven't needed the results to know that I was getting bet we are it. But it is nice to see it in a round like today.

Q. How did you find it?
JORDAN SPIETH: You go back to photos, videos from when you're at your best. You go to measurements of the stroke from the SAM PuttLab, all kinds of stuff trying to constantly improve. Even when you're putting well, you still want to go do it. It's head position, body position, where the ball position is. It's everything I went to to try and search for it, and it's always the simplest stuff with us, but it was more challenging than I'd like this year.

Again, it's not saying that it's back. It was a round where I'm progressing nicely, and really the last month, I've been putting better than tour average, and even up to the level that I want to putt at, which is what I did at PGA and now the last couple rounds here.

Q. Did it just click today?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it was always close, and certain rounds over the last couple years, it's come in, and I think kind of recognized why and how today. And I wrote it down, right after I hit a putt on, I want to say it was my par putt on 6. The birdie out on 5, that range. I wrote it down so that I wouldn't forget. I'll take a picture and put it in the notes. Just that trigger that gets me confident as I'm over the ball and not feeling like I have to manipulate anything.

Q. After you wrote that note down, were you able to get back into that position?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah.

Q. And do you feel like, there it is?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah.

Q. Do you get to take a deep breath?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's one of those where I know how to do it. I know how to get it where I want it, but it's going to be -- it's not just set. Like when I'm at my best, I set up to it, and everything matches up, right.

So I still have to adjust a little but I can adjust right where I want it, if that makes any sense. There's still an extra move there to get it there, but at least today, from 5 on, or whatever it was, it was right where it needed to be.

Q. And when you feel that, do you feel like that takes pressure off the rest of your game?
JORDAN SPIETH: Absolutely.

Q. Does it make everything easier?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I got a good break off the tee on 9, sitting on a great anal and I hit a horrible shot trying to force it into the pin and I said, I haven't been this confident in my putting where I can play safe when I'm out of position and I just kind of forgot what that was like.

I was like, man, I've got to recognize that I'm running them in from 20 feet right now. You don't have to try to play that shot to get it to four feet anymore. I fortunately played that way the rest of the round.

I hit it on the next tee box --

Q. When you played out 9 --
JORDAN SPIETH: 9, I didn't play it the right way, but I made my par putt, I think it was from like six or seven feet. I hit the 10 tee box left trying to get it into the right place. I hit a great chip and made the putt.

Q. Do you often take notes?
JORDAN SPIETH: No, I can't remember the last time I took a note during the round. I normally tell Michael to. We'll do it on the range sometimes, okay, this is my thing for today.

Q. What did you write down?
JORDAN SPIETH: Oh, that's something I'll keep, secret of the pros (laughter) I think I've given you guys a lot (laughter).

Q. You were on the range yesterday for like an hour?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I was doing the wrong swing feel, too. I kind of wasted two hours of my life there, for real.

Q. When did you realize you were doing the wrong thing?
JORDAN SPIETH: I couldn't get into the right position on the videos and afterwards, I'm like, man, the stuff I'm trying to do is kind of a temporary placement right now to get things close to where they need to be. I got pretty far off in my golf swing from THE PLAYERS on until really, Travelers, and then I've been working the right direction back, just like with the putting. The putting started to improve around the players, after the Masters, but the swing got off.

So it's been a year of having them both not on at the same time and I know they are both on the rise, and that feels good, and that leads to round like this on a difficult golf course.

It's a move where it's not ideal but it's getting in the right place, and I found a way, a little easier way to do it with the driver and 3-wood during the round today.

Q. Have you always considered yourself a steady, strong putter?
JORDAN SPIETH: I would have said from middle to end of 2014 on, yes. I think before that, it was more of good management, good speed control, but not, like, I never really looked at myself as that clutch of a putter until I really started to learn the tendencies I get into to counter them and then make clutch putts.

Q. Have you had fun this year?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, actually I had more fun this year than 2016, I would say. I'd still say last year, unfortunately, what I do on the golf course, probably has too much of an impact on my moods, and so -- but this year, I've done a great job of recognizing and being patient.

I wasn't having much fun for the first three months of the year, and since then, yeah, it's not been a bother to me, the results or anything. I've really kind of embraced how I feel like I'll be better than ever going forward because of what I've learned this year.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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