AT&T PEBBLE BEACH PRO-AM

February 13, 2021

Jordan Spieth

Pebble Beach Golf Links

Press Conference

JOHN BUSH: Jordan, thanks for joining us. We'll go right into questions with a couple of the guys.

Q. Talk about the 16th and overall just going from a fairly pedestrian round, two shots behind with three to go, to the position you're in now, how quickly it all changed.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I hit an 8-iron. I had 158 yards adjusted, with the wind in off the right and a little bit of mud on right side of the ball, so I knew I could throw it out to the right and let kind of the wind and the mud do most of the work.

In the air I thought it was going to be really good, it was one of the only shots I kind of said, Oh, be good, on today. And as it landed it was just exactly where I was trying to hit it, certainly a bonus for it to drop.

But I mean it's a good point, it's a good lesson to learn for tomorrow, that how quickly things can change out here. Make that turn on the 12th tee and you're just trying to hold on for dear life into the wind and hit a lot of flighted shots from hitting a lot of kind of lofted spinny shots on the first 11 holes.

So it's almost two different golf courses when the wind blows out here with that kind of out and in. But I think it's a good lesson for tomorrow that there's going to be some -- guys are going to make runs and I just got to stay really patient, recognize that setting a goal for myself and sticking to it is important because things can change quickly out here.

Q. How much more confident are you going into tomorrow than you were going into Sunday last week?

JORDAN SPIETH: I would say definitely more so. I feel that I've left, I feel like I've left quite a few shots out on the course, whether it was -- not really on Thursday, but definitely yesterday and today -- and I'm in the position I want to be in.

So with that being said, a lot of it was on the greens, I just didn't get any putts to the hole today and I had some missed short ones today, including a 3-putt.

So that was the problem on Sunday last week, I was just leaving them short and I didn't adjust quick enough. They left the greens a little slower today with this wind and the same thing happened.

So I think I feel good about the progress being made day-to-day with my swing and then I've just got to be a little bit more aggressive on the greens.

Q. You've obviously put together a short but nice body of work over the last two weeks. Your confidence level going into tomorrow, knowing you would like to win and end this three-year stuff, is it going to be tough for you to just let it happen instead of being impatient?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think my nerves will be there the same as they were last Sunday, the same they were today. It's not going to be the most comfortable feeling to start out, but it never is and that -- I can't speak to one time that I stood on the first tee on a Sunday with the lead and felt super, super comfortable. You know, you got to kind of get into the round and play into those kind of nerves and that adrenaline.

I don't really care about the time frame stuff. For me it's -- and I'm really just going to throw that out of my head because I'm finally consistently doing things over the last two weeks that I've wanted to do for a long time.

I think, obviously the more you continue to do that, the bounces go your way, like the hole out did today on 16. Someone may do that to me tomorrow or come shoot a 64 or something. I mean, it's golf and it's Pebble Beach and you can go low and it can also be really challenging.

It's just one of those courses where I'm going to try to set a specific target for a goal going into the round and just get to -- and what I'm asking for is a chance to win the golf tournament on 18. So I feel more confident but I'm also sure going to be, I don't feel like, I don't feel by any means that I have phenomenal control compared to other time periods where I've won three to five times in a season.

So it's working that direction, but it's not there yet and I'm just trying to have it feel a little bit better than yesterday.

Q. What club did you hit from that middle of the fairway on No. 2?

JORDAN SPIETH: I hit a 5-iron. I just, I fatted it. I just chunked it.

Q. Does that feel worse than a bogey?

JORDAN SPIETH: It was a bogey, it felt worse than doubles elsewhere.

Q. On the wedge you hit on 14 to that back pin, what's going on there?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I really should have taken my time and gone up there and looked. I had the same number three times, on number 11, 14 and 15 I had 116 off an upslope where you had to take the spin off. And each time I went to a 52 degree instead of taking a pitching wedge and just chipping it.

But 14, you know if you fly it just over that green you're dead back there. So I was trying to kind of, I was trying to punch hook something and get it over to where Daniel's was and I just bailed on that and just didn't quite commit to hitting a hard low hook. It was just a really bad shot. It came back into kind of the side of a divot to where I kind of couldn't really -- the next one I had to fly it a little further to make sure I got it up there. And I hit a good putt that didn't go in.

Q. Can you describe the emotional shift one swing can bring in your game?

JORDAN SPIETH: I didn't feel that it brought a massive emotional shift. I actually felt that from No. 12 on my, I started swinging monumentally better than I did prior to 12. It's funny because I made two bogeys in those first three holes but I felt that I had started to really, really have the right tempo and get some of the feels I've had in some really good range sessions, and it started on 12 and it's just kind of odd how that shifted.

But, yeah, I mean it going in was certainly a nice bonus but the more important thing was that it was drippy speed that was going to be really close to the hole and that's a nice confidence boost on that shot, just as the previous hole was, hitting it to where I did.

So I hit a lot of good swings. I drove the ball really well. No. 1 I hit a bad 4-iron and then No. 3 I put it in the left rough where I'm supposed to put it and I think I hit almost every other fairway. So -- 10 wasn't good.

But, I mean, when I look back on a windy day, hit 10 fairways, I would have liked to have hit more greens, but the way the swing started to feel as I rounded the turn and came in actually improved and I like that going into tomorrow.

Q. Did you play that front tee on 10 during a practice round?

JORDAN SPIETH: We went over and looked at it. I played -- the pro-am was the only nine holes that I played this week there. We have the numbers in the book and stuff. I thought they were going to use it today, but they moved us up on 4.

So we'll see, I mean, tomorrow they might move it up. I mean, I would imagine that it's just going to be like a 4-iron or hybrid and then a sand wedge. I don't see myself going for it, especially if the pin's on the left side.

Q. On 6, Boog kind of exaggerated it and you've kind of gone way left of the bunkers, is that just the plan this week without spectators? Is it the smart play?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well it's not really the spectators it's more the grass is really dead over there. I hit four shots off that tee in the practice round. I tried to hit one down the fairway and then three over there, just to try and land it in different spots and see where they all went. The idea is to try and get it on the cart path and then from there you take the drop and I think I was in the exact same spot the first round and the third round and was able to get a drop to where you're on a flat lie.

It takes the water out of play and you're able to hit driver, so you get to where you have 4-iron or hybrid in and then when you get to drop it over there you just drop it into a down-grain patch and you know you're going to be up near the green in two.

So the thing for me is I feel pretty confident when I'm around the green in two there that I can knock it in in four. So if it's an almost given, if you hit the tee shot where you're supposed to, then, you know, that's the plan.

I mean, and we were, I was uncertain on how many guys would do it and it seems there's been quite a few.

Q. You must be playing pretty good if you can hit a cart path with a driver, aren't you?

JORDAN SPIETH: That was the plan. It didn't land on it either day. You try and land it left of it and have it go to the cart path. Today I accidentally hit it right of it but luckily it bounced over on to it any ways.

Yeah, I mean, it's funny, when you're aiming for that cart path how close you can get, but then sometimes if you don't narrow your vision in it makes it a little more difficult, so I'll try and land it on it tomorrow.

JOHN BUSH: Thanks, Jordan. Best of luck tomorrow.