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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2019

Jordan Spieth

Farmingdale, New York

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome back to the 2019 PGA Championship here at Bethpage Black. Pleased to be joined by Mr. Jordan Spieth who shot a 4-under 66 today. He has a two-day total of 135. He's 5-under par and currently alone in second place for the championship.

Jordan, looking at your round, you kind of blitzed Bethpage's front nine, which is your back nine, but it seemed like that birdie on 17 kind of steadied you out a little bit. That seemed really important for you in your round. Is that the case?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think 17's such a difficult hole and pretty much have -- you pretty much play two holes. The pins are on the left and those are small greens from that distance. I flushed a 6-iron right at it and I thought that you know, that birdie was big, because it got me to even par on the nine holes. I thought, the back nine, you shoot even par, it's a good score.

And knowing the front nine is a little bit more gettable, there's a few holes that you can take advantage of, and then my goal in turning was try and get to a few under for the championship. You don't expect Brooks to fall at all, so I thought I needed to be within five or six or seven to feel like I had a chance on the weekend.

JOHN DEVER: Curious as to how similar or how different the golf course was today compared to Thursday for you.

JORDAN SPIETH: I think No. 10, our first tee shot today, was a lot easier than what those guys had on their first tee shots yesterday morning. Down off the left versus into, into off the left.

Overall, I didn't feel like it played, it was a different wind, so quite a few of the holes played totally different. But as far as difficulty level, pretty similar. Maybe a smidge easier with this breeze, but it could just be the fact that it was blowing harder yesterday.

JOHN DEVER: Terrific. Let's hit the floor for some questions.

Q. I just wonder what a round like this, and -- and -- and, even last week, the way you were playing is doing for your confidence and is it building -- is there a process if you can feel it a little bit?
JORDAN SPIETH: I think confidence-wise, I've been there. It's been more where I'm looking. I'm seeing tighter targets the better I'm hitting it; and therefore, I'm standing on tees willing to take on draws when there's trouble right and just knowing how to get the ball drawing and missing left, if anything.

A few of the tee shots I hit today, like No. 7, was just a shot that I had no chance hitting this entire year, and I -- I just absolutely pummeled one, just a tight draw on my line when there was trouble right.

So certain situations like that, I hit a 4-iron into 12, my third hole of the day, that had no business hitting the green earlier this year, and was right at the pin and actually went inside of ten feet from about 227 into the wind.

Shots like that are nice because they allow me to start seeing tighter targets. I get the feel through my hands and recognize what I did to produce that. It's all just progress from the work off the course, or outside the tournament.

Q. Speaking of confidence, what was your confidence level coming into this week and has it changed after these first two rounds?
JORDAN SPIETH: I think it was fine. I wasn't -- I didn't feel that I was in fantastic form, but I also really liked what I saw with the putter, and I thought that I hit the ball better than what showed last week. I was just kind of messing with a few things on some holes, and so it won't actually show up on the stats the right way.

I figured if I just kind of stayed out of my own way, stick to, you know, one thought, try and nail it in Tuesday, Wednesday, and then stay through that, stop trying to change things up throughout the week like I've done in the past, that it was in good enough shape to be able to contend.

Q. I know it's hard to quantify, but how does your confidence level measure up now compared to what it was a few days ago?
JORDAN SPIETH: No different at all. It's the same, yeah. I still need to hit more fairways. Just like I said in here on Wednesday, I've got to be playing out of more fairways to be able to do -- I made a lot of putts, and I can't necessarily rely on that, and scrambled really, really well. I think I was four for four out of the bunker and a couple others out of the rough. Ball just needs to find the fairway as often as it was for the guys around me; DJ, Brooks. It's not going to be as far as theirs, so I'd better be in as many fairways.

Q. Thursday, Friday hasn't been a problem for you this season at all. How do you maintain it going through the weekend, given that's been where you haven't quite got that one round each tournament to get it through to the end?
JORDAN SPIETH: I think there's only been a couple weeks where Thursday, Friday, was good, and it was mainly just because of one round here or there where I holed out a shot.

This is different. It's different. It's not -- I don't feel the same. I feel like the way I scored was actually the way that I played, and any time I was in a situation where it maybe looked like I was contending, it didn't feel like it this year so far. And there were tournaments where I started, the Masters, one where I started really poorly on nine holes.

I just had some nine holes that really beat me up this year, and I feel like even if things get a little off, like yesterday's back nine had a chance to be one of those nines, and I was able to turn it around and finish the right way.

It feels like I'm playing the way I'm scoring, which is really nice, and I don't think I can -- I think it's deceiving to look at first two days versus last two because I think I just got a way with stuff random days that happened to be coupled together.

Q. When you go through a long stretch of time when you're working on things in your swing, is there a point at which it starts to become a little more ingrained, unconscious, automatic, in terms of everything that you've worked on, and if so, do you feel like you're getting to that point now?
JORDAN SPIETH: I hope so. I'm not quite to that point, no. I mean, I'm still really thinking through swings, but I have to because if I don't, it gets into the wrong position. I hope so.

Certainly my history shows that. I played most of 2017 with just one swing thought and be reactive, and it was as good as anybody that year. So it's working back in that direction, but it was far enough off to make it pretty difficult, especially to trust it in certain situations in majors. It's just harder on the tees to sit there and fully trust it. Doing a pretty good job this week so far.

Q. Earlier in the year, you were also talking about still working on getting your putting stroke back. Right now, on a percentage basis, how close are you to where you think you should be, and what, if anything, do you still need to make up ground doing?
JORDAN SPIETH: I think probably 90 percent back to when I was at my best, and the only difference maker is I think just speed control. Speed control has still been just a little bit iffy, but I'm as good or better. I feel as good or better 15 feet and in.

I feel like I'm where I should be. I've put a lot of thought and work into it, and the putting feels good, and I certainly -- it was a bonus to have the right reads and the right pace and with some of the putts I made today, I don't expect to putt as well as I did today, each and every day. It's just not possible. But it feels consistent enough to where the good days are like they were today, and off days, I'm still rolling some good putts and still coming away with some confidence.

Q. You used to talk quite a bit about aim small, miss small. Have you been doing that lately?
JORDAN SPIETH: Well, that's what I was speaking to in that kind of confidence question. The lines are looking tighter. I'm able to think about aim small, miss small more, and really pick specific targets. Michael is doing a good job coming on to the tee and saying, hey, where are you trying to hit this shot; what's your plan to drop it on where -- what's your line.

But it's not -- I mean, I'm not -- I'm 100 percent not hitting it as well as I did a couple years ago, but I'm hitting it a lot better than I did the end of last year, beginning of this year.

Q. When did you start thinking aim small, miss small this year?
JORDAN SPIETH: The last week or two, honestly.

Q. All of the questions that we ask you can create clutter in your mind. How do you keep that clutter out so that you can winnow it to that one swing thought, and was that a problem earlier?
JORDAN SPIETH: I don't actually look at what any of the experts say because I -- you know, I believe in our team enough to know that we're working on the right things.

So as far as freeing me up on the golf course, I have no issue with the clutter. It's just annoying to talk about negativity a lot.

Q. Today, was there any reason?
JORDAN SPIETH: I don't necessarily think I was any freer today than yesterday. But I feel like each round I've played is -- I felt a little bit more in control of the ball and hopefully that continues. But yeah, I didn't -- I didn't necessarily feel -- I mean, when you're making everything you look at, anybody is going to walk around feeling pretty free. I was making a lot of putts today.

Q. How did what Brooks did yesterday impact how you played and thought today?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think -- I'm not sure what he said about his own round, but I imagine he got done and said, man, I couldn't have missed many shots. I don't really see more than seven birdie putts out there, and to not make any mistakes, too, had to be very flawless.

I thought a flawless around is somewhere around there, but you don't certainly expect that going out. Like I mentioned yesterday after the round, I'm just trying to improve on the day before a little bit. I'm trying to feel a little bit better about my game than I did the day before, and it's unlikely that I'm going to shoot five or more under and then best that the next day on Sunday.

So I don't mean in score; I just mean in how I feel and the progress that I'm making. My goal was to shoot under par each and every day.

Q. We've been in here for a few minutes and none of us has mentioned the career slam, which kind of is the elephant in the room so to speak. I know we're just 36 holes in and you talked the other day about kind of blocking out all the noise and what not-- it's such an amazing accomplishment that sitting there as a potential opportunity this week. Are there any moments where it creeps into your mind?
JORDAN SPIETH: It certainly hasn't. I can't imagine it will because I really -- I haven't been in contention on a Sunday since The Open last year, and if I'm able to put some good work in tomorrow, then I will have -- I will be in contention on Sunday. And at that point, it will be just more of trying to win a golf tournament. I won't -- it won't matter to me what tournament it is. I'll be pleased to be in contention, knowing that the work I put in from being pretty far off has really come back nicely on a very difficult golf course.

I imagine that will take pretty much most of my thought, but I mean, we'll see. I'm not sure what to expect.

JOHN DEVER: Jordan Spieth, ladies and gentlemen, thank you.

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