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MASTERS TOURNAMENTNovember 9, 2020Jordan SpiethAugusta, Georgia Q. Are there any shots, given the conditions now, that you would hit this week that you wouldn't hit in April or vice versa? JORDAN SPIETH: I don't think so. I don't think so. I'm anxious to see over the next couple of days how tight some of the run‑off areas get because the grass has been a little thicker and longer than we see in April. So even for 9, we just came out on No. 9, if the ball comes short of that green, sometimes it rolls back 20, 25 yards short of the green. Right now it's only going to go 5 or 10, making the next shot a bit easier. It will be interesting to see how that changes because that changed a lot from this weekend to today. So to answer your question, that would change how aggressively you could play certain approach shots if you know it's not going to run off as much as it normally does. Q. Given the change day to day and then also just how much is different this year with November, does it feel like the practice rounds are kind of an added importance this week? JORDAN SPIETH: I don't think so. I don't think they feel any different than normal. The course is not totally different. They actually have a lot of ‑‑ it looks like some of the greens have a little bit of that kind of browning where it's starting to firm up already, maybe just preparing for potentially some water coming in Wednesday and Thursday. But I haven't seen that kind of color on these greens other than 2014 and '16, I want to say, the two years where it played really firm, and that certainly makes a big difference on how precise you have to be in not only the ball flight that you use as far as the curve on it, but how high you hit it too. So just it's important to see how shots are reacting in the greens, but the course itself is just playing a little bit longer, but not anything totally uncommon if anyone's played here in the fall before. It's normally a lot longer this time of year than it is in April. Q. Would you say this course changes one day at a time? JORDAN SPIETH: Yes, certainly. From yesterday to today was a change, and then I think I'm used to seeing a significant change Wednesday to Thursday and then a significant change Friday to Saturday, just as you walk on and around the green. It's weather dependent every year too. But given if we had conditions like this all week, we'd step on the green Saturday, and it would be pretty dicey looking and very difficult to dial in that speed. It just gets so quick. Q. For a lot of the past champions, it's been an unwritten rule to help the new guys. I know Crenshaw stepped up for you and Carl Jackson as well in '15. What do you remember about that practice round on Wednesday with Carl and Ben? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I also played with Tiger that day. Q. Yeah, Tiger. JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, there's a bit of Masters experience in that group. I just was watching what putts they were hitting. I was watching where they were hitting chip shots from. They kind of seemed to be practicing on the only spots they'd miss it on. They're not practicing from the really bad spots because they're making sure they never hit it in those bad spots. Yeah, sure, just talking about different‑‑ today I was with Zach Johnson and J.T. Poston, and Zach having played here however many years, he's a past champion, and J.T.'s first Masters, and just kind of talking about some of the pins, where you stay left of, where you stay short of, where you can be aggressive to. Each round you play, you try and learn something that you didn't know before. I've played it a lot now, and I've fallen in love with kind of the shaping of the course and where the pins are and how that gets played back to the tee box. Q. Does it feel weird kind of being in that role now where you're helping a guy like J.T., whereas five years ago it was‑‑ JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I'm still trying to learn myself, and I'm talking to Zach too. So I kind of had both roles today, I guess, a little bit. I'm trying to learn as much as I can. I hit certain pitch shots that I hadn't hit before. Every single time I go around this place, just to kind of see it in a different spot. Yeah, I guess it's a little bit weird, but at the same time, I still feel like I'm playing that learning role, and hopefully I always feel that way here. Q. (Inaudible). JORDAN SPIETH: I think that it's not too difficult off the tee, but you need to dial it in to one side of the fairway or the other. You've just got to kind of play‑‑ you play the hole backwards from where the hole location is. So I think it makes me really (inaudible). Better than normal. Yeah, so you get on holes like No.6, a par 3 where you might see hole‑in‑one to the front left pin and you know you can attack that day, but on the right pins, where am I playing to? What shot am I hitting to make sure I'm walking off that hole with a 3? It's just you play the hole backwards and figure out where you can take advantage and where you can't. And I think experience plays a good role around this track, but that's not to say in a softer condition at Augusta, it could be anybody that‑‑ when you can throw some darts, it could be anybody that wins. It doesn't require as much‑‑ I don't think as much experience. So we'll see what happens with the weather here coming up. Q. It's super quiet here already. How do you think it will be around Amen Corner as the competition gets going? How different will it feel? JORDAN SPIETH: I think that will be the biggest change from, obviously, from what we're used to. It's going to feel a lot like these practice rounds have. But at the same time, once you start seeing all those big leaderboards, and you start‑‑ you can see a lot of action around that part of the golf course and the groups around you, so come Saturday, Sunday, you're going to be very aware of what's going on around you, and it's the Masters. Whether there's fans or not, we're playing the same golf course and trying to shoot the low score and beat the same players that we have to try and do every single year. It doesn't change with the patrons. It's just kind of more the ambience and what really makes the Masters that next level special is the patrons, but as a competitor, it's really no change. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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