PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 22, 2021

Jordan Spieth

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island

Quick Quotes

JOHN DEVER: We are joined by Jordan Spieth here at the The Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, posted a 4-under 68, currently at even par for the championship.

Jordan, better scorecard today, improved play, improved scoring conditions, combination. What did you see and feel out there.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, definitely the scoring conditions. That's first and foremost. I had a lot of chances and I chipped in on 1 and I made another -- I made a long putt and then I gave myself a lot of looks. You know, I chipped in and made a long par putt on 15, so I can't really say that it should have been a lot lower. But this is a round where I'm walking up the 18th going, man, this could have been special today. I had four or five really with no pace on it lip out today. Obviously had a couple go in. But it felt like one of those really good 6-, 7-under rounds that ended up being 4.

But very pleased with climbing back to even. I hate being over par at a golf course. I mean, it's like my biggest pet peeve regardless of when it is in the tournament and I just hate seeing an over-par score next to my name. So it's nice to be tied with the course with a chance to beat it tomorrow.

Q. How would you describe the crowds this week?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think they have been awesome. It's not an easy place to get to and I know people are coming in on shuttles and parking far away. It says limited fans but doesn't feel that way, because I think a lot of the golf course, they are only on one side of the holes. The fans have been awesome for me personally out there.

Today was pretty fun. It was good to see a really nice crowd out there for teeing off four and a half hours before the leaders. Kind of seemed like I could feed off some of the momentum with fans kind of pushing for more and more birdies.

Q. Morikawa and Bryson, they won their majors without fans and there was some talk, not an asterisk, but they didn't feel the full effect of the pressure and intensity of having big crowds. What's your take on if that's a valid point and what the leaders will face now with the first real crowds in a long time?

JORDAN SPIETH: I mean, you've followed those two guys for a long time. What do you think?

Q. I think it's a different feeling in the air when there's nobody out there.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think they both -- I think it's one of quite a few, if not many, for both of them. So I don't think it will matter in the long run.

Sure, I think the crowds and the big grandstands and the setting is different than when it's quiet. But the pressure of a major and understanding kind of where that puts you in the history books, the calibre of tournament to win, the calibre of players that you have to beat and the calibre of golf course that you have to beat, is enough to say that there shouldn't be an asterisk there, no.

But I've been one that I feel I've been playing better with crowds and I've had more fun with crowds than without, and felt better energy. So you could also argue that maybe some of the other guys might have actually, you know, fed off crowds. It's just, you know, it is what it is. You can also go off the Masters this year and say there were no fans. I also think you can't really say Dustin Johnson at the Masters is somebody you would put an asterisk next to that win.

I think all three players for majors that had little to know fans are major championship-winning players and will all have multiple by the time their career is done.

Q. You've shown good restraint not snapping your putter over your knee over the first couple days. I know it was a talking point last week as well, in Dallas. Where do you feel you are right now with your putting?

JORDAN SPIETH: It's just a stroke thing. I know exactly what it is. I'm just trying to trust it on the course, and it's difficult. It's a move just like any kind of swing move where it needs some repetition and it needs trust and it needs a couple results, and all of a sudden I'm pouring it in.

It's in a place where, you know, when I look at it on video or how I need to calibrate it, I'm like, okay, yeah, no wonder it feels that bad on the course and that's better than it being perfect and feeling poorly and not performing on the course. I'm not getting the face turned around. I'm not getting the putter path appropriate and I'm having to save it, and that's a tough place to be. I would say I've had over a dozen putts lip out, most all of them, if they had an extra half a foot of speed, would go in and I think that's not in the greens. I think that's just commitment through the stroke, so yeah, very frustrating through two rounds. Today was a bit better. Yesterday it actually felt good. Just didn't go.

Q. What's the fix?

JORDAN SPIETH: It's hard to explain. But nothing out of the ordinary. Kind of a similar feel I had at St. Andrews this year, just trying to do more and more of it, getting the putter pre-square pretty early so I can get out in front of it and hold. I always feel good in the left hand when I have hold through the, stroke, and when you have to rotate through impact, that's a tough spot for me left-hand-low. That's where I am now, and I'm trying to eliminate that. And you miss a couple left and you're like, you know -- it's obviously not great to try to figure out in the middle of a major championship, but I can go in with nothing but trust like I did today, tomorrow, and see if they start pouring in.

Q. It's been kind of windy this week, as times, but at least it's been predictable, and the forecast tomorrow is for it to do a complete 180. How does that impact your preparation for playing tomorrow?

JORDAN SPIETH: There's a number of guys who have seen that other wind. I think it was maybe the weekend prior to the Byron Nelson. They had that wind, and I think maybe half the field or maybe not quite has seen that wind. I haven't. It will certainly be an adjustment. The thing is I know how far the ball is running out downwind or how far it's running out into the wind. We have such great yardage books these days with pictures on them, you can use rangefinders to cover the bunkers. I don't think there's anything that will take me by surprise,.

But your expectation on certain holes will certainly change. You go from just trying to hold on from dear life the last four to, hey, maybe I can grab a couple tomorrow and same on the early holes and that whole middle stretch of the round you're in off the left and holes that were kind of shoe-in mid-irons into par 5s you have to really carve that hole out. I think it's just more of an expectation thing than actually knowing where to hit it. I think that won't be a problem.

Q. So it won't feel like a different course?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think it will feel like a different course, yeah, but I don't think I'll have a hard time knowing what lines to take and stuff like that. But it will -- every hole will play very different. I think that's really cool. I kind of wish we had two and two days.

Today it's going southeast and tomorrow southwest, so this afternoon, it's only -- it's changing -- instead of off the left on those downwind holes it will be in on the left, so it just moves a little bit, but it changes the dynamic of the course for sure.

Q. Couple quick questions. When you're in those extra long carts, seems like you're in the last row facing backwards. Is there a reason for that?

JORDAN SPIETH: I sat in the front row next to whoever was driving today. I just kind of sat next to Michael because most of the time I'm either handing him stuff on the way to the tee and we're normally pretty late to the first tee, not quite like Steve Stricker but normally pretty late.

And then from 9 to 10 normally we're just kind of talking through like I'm talking him through adjustments or something like that. But caddie is either best on the front or the back because they have a little more room to put the bag and I normally just sit next to Michael.

Q. A different thing here with the long ride?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah.

Q. Where is your head at when you're doing that?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I was wondering when I got here if that's how they do it always or they rerouted -- but there's no holes that are close. It's not totally out of the ordinary for us. There are plenty of tracks where you get cart rides. But yeah, this one, I think it's just more inconvenient for friends and family following because then they have to hoof it.

But it's fine. I haven't noticed really anything with it.

Q. You mentioned the rangefinders. Did you find it helped speed up play over the last three days and do you have an example?

JORDAN SPIETH: Today on No. 1 I was off line. I think it helps speed up play if you're more than 20 yards off the fairway. I was over in the sand on 1, and I still kind of walked the number but it was nice to shoot it because it changes the angle of the hole, instead of -- it might have helped a little there.

I don't necessarily think it's helped pace of play. We had a really hard golf course and 20-mile-an-hour winds with 156 players the last two days. Doesn't matter what you do. It's going to be really slow, rangefinders or not and today it's twosomes and we flew. I think it's hard to tell.

I've used -- I've probably clicked it a total of 12 times and I normally shoot something three times and I'm shooting it just different covers like covering a bunker there, there and there just to get a better picture of the hole. So I've used it on 6 and I've used it on 16 every day, and then I think just No. 1 was the only other time.

Again, you're yardage books are so good that we have all that information, picture books, all that stuff, that it's almost unnecessary unless you're off line.

Q. You were born in the year that Phil first played in this major. I don't know if that makes you feel young or old, but can you explain from your point of view how impressive it is that at almost 51 he's doing what he's doing?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's Phil, right. It's theatre. It's just -- I mean, I don't watch golf but I promise you I'm going to turn it on to watch him today. It's pretty incredible. I mean, I have no way to relate to it, right, but I also don't think it's necessarily that special because didn't he win a World Golf Championships in the last couple years? So like he's been competitive, and I know he's talked about how he's been less competitive here versus the Champions Tour and it's just been getting harder, whatever.

But I mean, the guy's got four good rounds on any golf course in him, and no one would bet against that, and what he did in the wind the last two days with kind of the struggles, I think accuracy off the tee that's been kind of his biggest struggle, I mean, to carve into these fairways and to be gaining strokes on the field and to shoot those scores consistently in the conditions we had, I mean, that's pretty awesome and now he's got a chance to have a scorable golf course today.

Q. People speak about experience but it's more than just experience, isn't it?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, he's just a great player. He's one of the best to ever play the game. He's stayed; again, he's won a World Golf Championships in the last couple years and he stays relevant all the type. He won at Pebble the year after I think.

I would actually point out that tomorrow's wind direction is very suitable for a lefty on that into-the-wind nine holes when you get it in off the left with a lot of trouble on the right side, he can start it off left and hold the wind or even draw it back into those pins. I think it's very suitable for a left-hander tomorrow versus the other winds that we've had like today or like yesterday off the right and down would be a little harder for a lefty on those holes.

Q. What's the goal tomorrow? Obviously if you would have shot 7- or 8-under today, it would have been maybe a little different but what's the goal tomorrow and what's the plan going into U.S. Open?

JORDAN SPIETH: The goal tomorrow is to, I mean, the same as today. Yeah, I took driver. I didn't hit anything except a driver off the tees. I didn't hit any less.

It's push the ball up as far as you can, if you don't pull off the shot, then you don't pull off the shot, but it's the best chance to make birdie on the hole and that's my mindset tomorrow.

Yeah, if I were at 4-under and the lead was only 7, then things could be different. But I'm not.

Into the U.S. Open, I'm playing a place a love next week. Planning on playing Memorial, as well, and then a week off and then out to San Diego.