WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

February 5, 2021

Jordan Spieth

TPC Scottsdale

Quick Quotes

Q. I know a little slip-up at the end, but I hope you're remembering the four birdies and the eagle. Tell me about that 25-footer.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's a putt that I've actually had a number of times, normally from shorter range for birdie, and it's a really flat part of the green. A lot of times you miss it kind of on the side towards the middle of the green, the high side, so I played a little less break. With about five feet to go it looked good and luckily curled in. From that distance you're looking to try and lag it up there to a tap-in, and if it goes, it goes.

Q. How is the confidence factor headed into the weekend?

JORDAN SPIETH: Probably higher than it's been in a long time. Still certainly not at 100, not feeling like I have my "A" game, but I feel like it's trending that direction, which gives me a lot of confidence.

Q. Any thoughts on the Super Bowl? You're a Texas guy, Mahomes is a Texas guy, albeit a Red Raider. What are your thoughts on the Super Bowl?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know. Anytime anyone counts out Brady, he seems to turn around and win no matter where it is and who with. The easy answer for me is to say the Chiefs by stealing a possession just with that offensive explosion, but you just never know.

I'm really looking forward to it. I think it's going to be back and forth.

Q. If we can get some comments on your day, please.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I felt like I played three, four shots better than yesterday and shot the same score. That probably shows up just on the greens. It's probably totally accurate tee to green and I just didn't quite make the amount of putts I did yesterday, which was one of those kind of all-timer type days. It was nice to hit, I think, 11 fairways. That was the first time I've done that in a way. I can take a lot of confidence off that. I know exactly what I did to produce those. I know the difference in the bad ones yesterday to the good ones today. It's just about repping it in, continuing to trust it and just being okay with the fact that it's going to take time for it to be fully integrated with the stuff I've been working on.

Q. You said you're not 100 percent, but can you give any kind of a percentage what you are?

JORDAN SPIETH: I mean, it's kind of -- you know, I'm trying to just hit spots that feel like I know they're supposed to feel in the swing. It's kind of coming one every couple drives and then certain kind of wedge shots are real easy, other ones are a little more difficult. It's just a different animal to take it into tournament play from 10 weeks off of just hitting balls and playing here and there at home.

So it's more just -- I felt like I just trusted myself a lot better today. I felt like -- obviously shooting 4-under yesterday, I had a bit of leeway to feel like I could, and normally when I get a little bit of space, good things happen.

A Saturday free wheeling and coming from behind, I should progress, at least in my trust, whether that goes out there to show better results or not. For me it's about trusting what I'm working on because I'm starting to really hit some shots that I hadn't been able to hit in a long time, and that's what builds confidence.

Q. Do you feel like -- are you closer? Yesterday was two fairways, today 11. That's a huge difference. Where do you think you are in that gap?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I feel like I'm on the 11. Each one of those I almost knew kind of through transition that they were going to be good drives, and then one of the fairways I missed was a hybrid, so I just toed it. I don't even remember the other ones. Two that kind of leaked to the right when I was trying to play a fade.

So I'm just a little more comfortable playing the draw this week with a driver, and that's where I'm kind of taking into the weekend. That's what these first two days were for, and I felt like when I really stood in that draw and really exploded off my right side, cleared out, some really good things happened.

That's kind of -- I hit some good fade drives, too, but ultimately it's kind of finding out where that comfort level is and then continuing to work each shot. Yeah, it definitely -- yesterday it was, too, but I'm definitely closer to it today than I was yesterday.

Q. When we talked last week at Torrey, you said that once the numbers started to happen and you're putting yourself into contention that memories of your past cockiness and dominance will come back. Are you feeling some of that this week?

JORDAN SPIETH: Not yet. Really, I putted out of my mind yesterday. I think I gained almost four shots, and it was really all on the back nine, too. And then I hit good putts today that didn't quite go in. But the putter saved it yesterday, so I really wasn't going to get much confidence tee to green off that.

Today I hit some really nice shots. Again, you hit 11 fairways out here, you're going to shoot under par. Very rarely am I going to bogey with a sand wedge from the middle of the fairway like I did off 9. And then my other bogeyed eight feet for birdie on 16 and three-putted.

It really was a fantastic day where I started to tap in a little bit into those feels. It felt like a 6- or 7-under day, and this is one of the first times I've almost been disappointed shooting 4-under in a round in long time, and that's a good sign. Versus yesterday it was one of those, like, all right, I shot 4, but I got away with murder.

It was a tale of kind of two different days, and what I like about it was I just went to trusting more and more today off the bat, and I hit just great shots -- my first two holes of the day that were really just big confidence boosters to carry in, some dangerous shots there on 11, 12, even 13 tee if you're not going to be able to carry the water early in the day. Just kind of getting into the fairway on 13 at 1-under, I started to really calm down and feel a lot of that confidence carry.

Q. You're a really popular player and there are a lot of people who are cheering for you to come back. Do you feel that and does it make it easier or harder?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think I don't necessarily feel it. I think I've kind of -- I'm as hard on myself as anybody is on me and I'm as confident in myself as anybody is in me at different stages. It's really just -- I love the game. I want to play with freedom. I want to win golf tournaments and I want to get myself back. I've put in the hours. It's just a matter of kind of working really smart, working on the right things, and then again, trusting it and just being okay with that patience of not having to see results right away. It's a new thing for me.

I went through 10 years plus of every single year I actually got better at golf and had better results, too, and then at some point that can't continue to happen and then go through adversity, and for me that's taken longer to overcome than I certainly want it to, but I feel confident in my road ahead for sure.

Q. How much do you need a good Saturday? That's kind of --

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't. I mean, again, it's just about trusting what I'm doing here. If I shoot 6-under tomorrow, awesome. If I shoot even but I trusted it and it felt really good and I just didn't get the right breaks or lipped out or something, really, that's fine. I know that once I am hitting the positions I want to hit in the swing, I've got the tempo I want, I've got the right swing feels, I know that I'll end up progressing forward, shooting a lot of low rounds and winning golf tournaments because I've done it. It's nice to have been there and been able to be the best in the world. You know you can do it. And so for me, it's about, again, more the feels than it is the results right now, and obviously if I get in the thick of things on this weekend, then I'll tap into that competitiveness that I love to have, and hopefully it'll be a very confident competitiveness drawing back on good memories.