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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 11, 2019

Jordan Spieth

Jersey City, New Jersey

JORDAN SPIETH: The first two holes were really nice, 70 feet of it. I really felt good. Felt like I kind of saw something in my stroke the last couple days where I could make a slight adjustment to kind of free me up through the ball, and tried it on the practice green a couple times and really felt nice before I got started today.

You know, if I feel the freedom through the middle of the stroke there, I have a kind of great face awareness in general, so I've just kind of got my hands in the right place tracking back and forth. Sounds more complicated than it is but it was just a little trigger that allowed it to start on line. I knew it wasn't going to start right and have kind of a hold stroke, which for me is the way I putt my best.

Q. Solidifying next week, what does this round do for you confidence-wise for next week?
JORDAN SPIETH: It was big, off of yesterday's round -- this golf course in general, Michael told me when we finished the round, he goes, "That's probably the least Jordan golf course that we play all year." And I agree, it's probably one of the worst tracks for my game. So to come out today, trust a few more swings; even I hit one in the water but it was because I trusted it too much. I was kind of playing bail-out; didn't.

Overall it was a strong improvement on the mentality side and physical side tee-to-green, even though it may not show up that way. But you know being able to roll those putts in, and on 18, I know the difference of dropping back to 11 versus 12 what that does for my chances next week is big. I looked at that as big as a putt to win a golf tournament because my ultimate goal is to make it to East Lake and that was a strong finish.

Q. What is it about the golf course?
JORDAN SPIETH: You know, right now, as I'm going through --

Q. Doesn't fit your eye?
JORDAN SPIETH: Doesn't fit my eye off the tee very much at all. Especially as I'm kind of working through some kind of scar tissue off the tee of some right balls. Pretty much every hole, if you miss it right or left, is a stroke penalty. It's a straight driver's golf course. I think you'll see the guys towards the top of the leaderboard, if you look at their strokes gained statistics this week, in the Top-10, I guarantee you, I'll be the furthest down off the tee and it was still one of my strongest tee performances of the year. It just seems like you've just really got to start the ball dead straight online and I'm just trying to figure out how to do that.

I've worked it up to about five or 4-iron that are really solid right now, but the driver, 3-wood, were a little off. I was able to hit for the most part in play where they needed to be, but if they were not fully committed, lost either distance or accurate at times -- and then the green complexes themselves, typically don't fit me very well for my putting style. There's a lot of ridges and just certain sections of greens where you could be 15 feet but have to putt up a ridge and double breaker and for me, I like slopes, but your gradual slopes where the putts will break a lot; it's more so where you get straighter putts from short range and then these big, weird ones from mid range. Anyway, so that's probably why he said that.

Q. I think it's your lowest Sunday of the season and second time in a row on Sunday you've been in the 60s and obviously under the gun and getting that confidence back.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I look at the PGA Championship Sunday and that round was effectively in the 60s and I think lower than 67. You can always look at numbers, but if you're going to compare it to field average, I've had a few rounds like that.

I don't look at it as like over and beyond anything special. In all honesty I'm going to look back at the day and be like, man, I hit that drive in the water that cost me two shots or I dumped that wedge right of the green on 3 when I didn't have to and was making every putt. Unfortunately the perfectionist in me will nitpick.

But all in all, with the finish, needing to make those par putts on 17 and 18 -- that 18th hole, there's no worse hole right now for me to play than the 18th under pressure with where I've been off the tee, whipping left-to-right wind, trouble right. It's just like a hold-on-for-dear-life shot. It really is. So to kind of close that out with that bunker up-and-down there on 18 was massive for me. That was really nice.

Q. We talked about it a couple weeks ago how you feel like East Lake is a place you can make up ten shots if you need to.
JORDAN SPIETH: Especially with the progression I've made through the bag this week in my approach game, it was really, really solid. Especially, again, on a golf course, where I felt like there were three or four times I was two or three yards off from being two feet and instead I've just got to tap it and try to make par.

10 today, you're hitting it sideways going down the slope and you're hitting a 4-footer for par. I even felt like it was better than the stats would show, which is really nice. Clear up that tee game a little bit next week and maybe work my way into East Lake, I think anything can happen.

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