MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 5, 2022

Jordan Spieth

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are pleased to welcome our 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth to the interview room. Jordan, thanks for joining us.

JORDAN SPIETH: Absolutely.

THE MODERATOR: You have one of the most impressive records here at the Masters, and you always seem to play really well. This is your ninth appearance here but your first as a father. Congratulations to you and Annie on the birth of Samuel David Spieth, better known as Sammy.

JORDAN SPIETH: That's right.

THE MODERATOR: How time flies.

JORDAN SPIETH: He'll make an appearance tomorrow, assuming the weather holds up, at the Par-3.

THE MODERATOR: How are you feeling, and why don't you walk us through your preparations for this Masters?

JORDAN SPIETH: Sure. I feel great, played the last two weeks leading into this week, which is what I've done every year. I struck the ball beautifully last week, never adjusted to the speeds of the greens. That's not normally an issue out here. I never got the ball to the hole, so you kind of have the opposite problem here.

I feel like my game's in a great spot. I feel like I'm ready to contend. And with the predicted forecast and if we don't get too much rain, the course was as firm and fast as I've ever seen it on a Monday, yesterday. So ideally it gets back to that, throw in some wind, and you're going to really need to know the golf course, plot your way around really well. I really like Michael's preparation and my own as far as being able to plot ourselves around, miss in the right spots, and take advantage when we're supposed to take advantage.

Very confident this week, even if results over the last month or so haven't been what I was looking for. I feel like my game's in a lot better place than even it was last year here. I think I'm second to last on Thursday to get started, and we get a good gauge of how the course is playing because of that and kind of pick a game plan then.

Q. Given that you play in the week leading up to the Masters, do you make Augusta-specific changes to your preparation, or do you just get your game in shape and show up and know that it fits pretty well?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think the first couple years, the first few years told me that -- the year I won, I lost in a playoff the week before, almost won in '14 and '16 after missing the cut the week before. It's more so just to shake off kind of some rough edges and just sharpen things up as I play.

I don't really -- I can't remember ever really making any equipment changes or working on more specific shots. I mean, the one shot that you need here that is a forced significantly right to left moving shot off of 10 and 13, drawing a 3-wood's always been something I haven't had to like add work into. My 3 wood's real low spinning right now. I cracked the face of one, so I've been trying to get one that spins a little more that can turn more. So that would be something I'm working on tomorrow as we head in.

Other than that, it's just get adjusted to the speed of the greens, and there's not a whole lot I think -- you have a lot of uneven lies, but you hit on a flat driving range. Other than playing a lot of holes, there's not a ton else to do, I don't think.

Q. Jordan, your assessment of some of the changes that have taken place here on the golf course and if any in particular impact your game, maybe on 11 or 15 or something like that.

JORDAN SPIETH: I saw 11 for the first time today, and I really liked it. I was interested after what I'd been told about them. I talked to Justin after he came up, whenever that was, last week. So I was kind of a little skeptical, and then I saw it. It's more so a second shot hole now, which I think is great for that hole, and they made the miss to the right more severe, which just in turn makes that second shot just a little bit harder.

It will be interesting to see it into a significant west wind because it's not -- it's normally southeast here, like we saw today, and I hit 8-iron in even with the tee back. Because of the way it funnels down and kind of feeds now, if you hit a really good drive, an 8-iron in is a lot nicer than 4-iron into the wind into that green.

So I think those holes that 11 -- 11, 12, and then 15 are going to be as key as they've ever been this week given the forecast. I like the changes on 11 a lot.

On 3 it's pretty severe on that left side now, like it was always severe. Now it's pretty wicked. Just a little bit of a change in the drop of the depth once the ball feeds over the green, but it's such a small area with firm surfaces, and no balls are staying up short now. If it goes just over, you're left in a really tough position on trying to hit it firm with a putt to get up the slope off the green, and then it has to barely have any speed when it gets on.

It's almost like that Sunday pin was so challenging, and now it's almost an automatic layup with a wedge. So I think that's kind of a bit odd just because it was already so difficult.

15, the tee being back, it was downwind today, so I hit it to a very similar spot to where we used to hit it, but obviously coming into that hole with a hybrid or a 5-wood is going to be a very different shot into that green. So I think you're going to see a lot more layup shots, and that's probably the hardest par-5 wedge shot in the world. Especially to that left pin and really the back center.

I like them. It requires precision. It seems like as everyone started to hit the ball further and further, where the changes were made, it's forcing you to hit to where the course was designed to be playing from. I think back in the day the guys hit 1-irons into 15, right? If they could hit 1-iron into it, then we should be able to hit a hybrid into it.

Q. Jordan, I'm curious how has your life changed as a dad now? Has it affected your practice schedule, your focus, anything on course?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think I could speak for most of you all in here, you've got a pretty good idea. It's amazing. I've very much enjoyed it. The first couple months were like what just happened? And the last couple have just been really fun to watch him look around and use his hands and just grow.

No, I've felt like I'm in the same routine I always have been when I'm at tournaments. Then when I get home, it's even more fun because you got him to hang around. They've been traveling with me, and I've really enjoyed that. First Masters should be a pretty fun day tomorrow if weather permits because that will be a memory that obviously we'll always have.

Q. Sorry to take you back to the past.

JORDAN SPIETH: That could be a good or a bad thing, but you're apparently going into the bad route.

(Laughter.)

Q. Now in perspective with a bunch of years passed, how much do you think it makes to your career the events of the 12th hole that Sunday?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't think -- since I've won, I don't feel any damage from it at this point. Ideally, I get in that situation again, and it makes me play the right shot, and I win the golf tournament because of it.

I really don't -- I'm back here, and for a couple of years I certainly thought about it, was questioned about it a lot, but that only lasted a couple of years.

I think in 2018 is where I really just kind of got back on track. I made birdie on the hole on Sunday to get to maybe 6-under or something through 12 and ended up getting to 9 through 16, and it was just kind of that like moment where I was like, all right, I got this hole back. So I don't think a whole lot of it.

If I hadn't won the tournament, I think that it would mean more, but it was simply a mistake on -- I mean, I hit the ball terrible that week. So it wasn't really that big of -- I mean, it was a surprise that I chunked a wedge shot or whatever, but I wasn't -- I mean, I was hit and missing everything short right. That's really the only hole -- there and 13, you can't really miss short right.

So I feel pretty good. It doesn't even come into my head anymore.

Q. Having won here at such a young age and knowing how hard it is to win here, how much has your level of appreciation increased with the passage of time of being a Masters champion?

JORDAN SPIETH: I would say it's certainly I think the coolest accolade you can have as a golfer. I continue to feel that way year in and year out. I've had so many close finishes and top finishes that I'm honestly a little frustrated at not having more than one, just given I think I finished in the top three like five or six times now out of eight starts.

So in that position enough, I would have liked -- if you just take any tournament, I'd want to be -- I'd want to have a couple wins at least, just given you're in that position enough.

I don't feel that this tournament is the hardest to win by any means that we play all year. I think that just based on the field size, who's in the field, how many out of the top hundred in the world versus, say, THE PLAYERS or the PGA might be a more difficult tournament as far as compared to the other players to win.

But this has that added level of legacy to it, that tournament we all grew up watching, our generation watching Tiger make those putts to win that really inspired us to want to -- we'd go right out to the 18th green with our buddies and pretend that we had that putt to win the Masters for a month after he did it, right?

It's just kind of -- if you can almost dumb it down to I'm just playing against these guys like I do every week, then it makes you a little bit more comfortable.

Then your original question to when you do win, it does kind of create that legacy.

Q. Can you talk about the greens here, how they play into your strength as a putter? Justin was in here talking about your unbelievable sense of speed, your imagination. I think it always seems to inspire you when you get here.

JORDAN SPIETH: I think so. They don't have to trick anything out. I think more and more on the PGA TOUR we're seeing hole locations like the hole slopes here and they find the one little crown or they go on the crown of a ridge, and you go here. You just don't see that very often. They're fast and firm, and if you hit it to the right spot, you've got a chance. If you don't, you've got to play defense. I just really enjoy that.

I think the speed of the greens, I enjoy faster greens. And then, yeah, using my imagination like you said. I've always worked really hard on speed control, and ever since I went to cross handed back when I was maybe 14 or 15 years old, it helped me a lot from shorter range, but I needed to work on speed control. So for a lot of years, that was most of my work. I think that's really helped in this tournament.

Q. Jordan, same question continuing with that lady. Playing as a dad, is there any big difference between playing as a boy and as a dad and husband? How eager it is for you, I want this trophy for my kid?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, I already have one that I could give to him if I wanted to.

Q. I mean the big one.

JORDAN SPIETH: No, I actually really haven't felt any difference on course in the tournaments that I've played. I think tomorrow will be a cool day and it will put things in perspective here. I remember watching Webb with his five or ten kids, however many kids he has, out on the Par-3, and obviously mine's not walking or running around or hitting any putts, but I think that will be a really cool day tomorrow.

But when I'm on the course, I haven't noticed any difference other than maybe the first couple months I may have hit a 6- instead of a 9-iron because I had no idea what was going on.

But I feel very normal, same preparation, and I feel like I always have on the course, which is, I think, a really good thing.

Q. You led the field last week in strokes game tee-to-green, which you were pretty frank in your assessment of how you putted. Just your view on how you think you putted this season and, besides speed control, how much has that been an emphasis so far this week?

JORDAN SPIETH: It's been a point of emphasis. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do any of it today, but I worked pretty hard late into the evening with Cameron yesterday and seemed to clean some things up.

We both agreed on what's kind of been off in the stroke and how to fix it, so it's just about getting enough reps to get comfortable doing it. It's felt good on the 18 holes that I've played. I've made some putts in the practice rounds, and a lot of times that's a good sign.

This year I would say I haven't played golf courses where I historically putt well in general other than I do putt well at Pebble Beach and Kapalua. Kapalua I struggled hitting it hard enough, just like last week. They both were very, very slow. So I have a hard time seeing -- I don't read putts very well on slow greens. I see fall lines dying in, and you just kind of have to point, aim, and shoot.

So I don't think I've been on -- I'm more going to say I don't think I've been on surfaces that I've historically putted very well this year yet, other than one or two events. So as long as it feels free as I'm stroking it and it feels like I'm able to hit my lines consistently, then I like my chances where we move into tournaments where we're getting into greens that I have historically putted well on.

Q. Not to get too nerdy, but can you just share what you guys stumbled upon as needing to be fixed?

JORDAN SPIETH: No, I can't, sorry.

Q. Regardless of form, is it safe to say you expect to play well when you come to Augusta?

JORDAN SPIETH: I'd be disappointed if I didn't give myself a chance this weekend. Yeah, it would be a disappointing week this week. Having said that, who knows what weather conditions are going to bring and stuff like that. But I love this place. I feel good right now about my game.

Like I said, if I'm just myself on these greens, then the rest of the game is coming around really nicely.

Q. Is it almost inspiration that gives you that expectation or the characteristics of the golf course itself?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think it's just history. Like I said, I've come in here after missing the cut and had a chance on Sunday, and I've come in here playing well and had a chance. 2017, I probably hit it the best, and it was one of my worst finishes. I just kind of almost throw it all out the window and say let's just plot the way around that we always do and not try and get too cute, wait for your chances.

A lot of it has to do with having a good idea of how this course is going to play because I've played it where 20-under and 18-under have won, and I've played it where 5-under, 6-under has won. Just certain holes and certain shots play totally different, and you just have to be aware of that ahead of time.

So I think going off late Thursday after seeing whatever this storm's going to bring and tomorrow, if we get more rain, I think that will tell us a lot because, if it was going to play anything like yesterday with any wind, it was going to get awfully borderline unplayable in a way.

I mean, it was very firm, fast, and glassy. Obviously, they -- it will never get unplayable here because they have the means and the technology to make sure it's just how they want it, but it would be very, very challenging.

Q. You've known Scottie since he was probably in middle school. How does his approach to the game and his approach to life, how do you think that will serve him well as he prepares to compete as the No. 1 ranked player in the world?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think I've known Scottie since he was 8, and I think it will serve him really well. He's just very happy-go-lucky. He's a competitor on the course, but it's not -- he's so light. Like he gets along with everybody. I think that he just looks at that as, the label as something that's really cool but just loves to play golf.

I think that given that being his personality versus it being his desire to be just No. 1 in the world and like just get there and that's what he wanted to do. I don't even -- I mean, I've never asked him, but off of what I -- how I know him, I think it was just one of those, oh, I wanted to win this match, then I wanted to win this match. I don't even know if he knew that he could get to No. 1 in the world at the end.

I think it's more he just loves playing the game, and he's playing it better than anybody else right now.

Q. (No microphone)?

JORDAN SPIETH: Changes in the course specifically or the Masters?

Q. No, just being back here after two years when the first one here.

JORDAN SPIETH: I think last year on the weekend felt pretty normal. 2020, the November one, was very, very weird. Last year felt pretty normal. You didn't have the big bleachers off 15, 16, but come the weekend in the last four or five groups, there was still -- your amphitheater seating, crowds, and stuff like that.

But yesterday I was walking down No. 2, and when you kind of get to that bunker off the tee and you take a turn, that's when I first noticed it. I was like, wow, this is unlike any other Monday throughout the year. It was just however many deep everywhere you looked, every hole, and it was like where this feels like the Masters.

Q. Hi, Jordan. You said your game is in great shape. You're hitting the ball really well. I'm just curious what specifically is clicking in your golf swing right now?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's still not -- I'm still kind of pushing the agenda back to the way -- my DNA of the way I used to really swing the club. So I'm still having to rehearse it and still really feeling, I would say, 200 percent of something that's only really moving an inch at a time.

But it's closer and closer, and as it gets closer and closer, I just feel very slotted, very free through the ball, kind of feel comfortable hitting a certain shot. If I'm uncomfortable when I walk up to the tee, I can play a certain shot that takes that away under pressure.

Then I think the difference maybe from last year at this time is just in kind of finesse shots, taking five to eight yards off of a club and still feeling comfortable hitting any shot. So just trying to get all the tools back. I like to work the ball both ways. It could be a blessing and a curse sometimes. If it's on, you can get at any pin, but if it's a little off, you have to know what to go to to make sure you're still going to play a nice round of golf.

I'm just trying to structure it like it used to be, and it's allowing me to feel like I'm not using my hands, and I'm able to just hit it with my pivot, hit it with my body.

Q. You mentioned at the start about not being pleased with Michael's preparation. What has that process looked like, and how much has his expertise kind of contributed to your success here?

JORDAN SPIETH: He absolutely loves this place. Because of that, he just wants to spend sunrise to sunset out here. His yardage book, I just told him today, since we got new yardage books this year with the changes to the holes, I want to transfer a lot of his straights.

The past few years I worked with him a lot on straights, finding the fall lines to different pins. He's got pretty much every location, the fall line relative to a tree, and we're just going to assume that Augusta National has not moved some of these giant trees. Sometimes they change locations, but scoreboards to whatever it may be.

I looked in his book, when I asked him this, and I'm like, man, I don't even know if I can get all of this information down. He works so hard this week. He's done a great job in the early years of reaching out to some local caddies, Carl Jackson being one, but some of the local guys that are here all the time.

And then from there, just we've got a lot of experience out here, certain putts where we'll be like, hey, that actually -- that went a little this way.

So the combination of the work he's put in with the experiences we've had means he's got, I think, better information than anybody else this week.

Q. You mentioned when you came in here the number of people that were here for Tiger. Does the attention he's getting this week help you and Scottie and JT just kind of prepare and fly under the radar early on?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't think I'm even top ten odds, so I didn't feel pressure anyways. I think I feel the same coming in as No. 1 or 2 in the world as I do where I'm at and where I did two, three years ago outside the top 50. So I don't think so personally.

I put enough pressure on myself to want to go out and compete. It's my favorite tournament. So I want to play well. I think him playing and playing with being healthy and playing and potentially playing well is just in general, no matter where it is, just so good for the game of golf and all of us. Obviously, no stage is brighter than it is this week.

He seems to be moving great, in great spirits. It's amazing if you think about where he was at a year ago to now, I don't know how many people, if anybody, could be out here -- and this is not an easy walk. So to be out here and not to throw his age in the mix, but I don't think that helps much for that recovery, but is anybody surprised?

Q. When did you first start hearing that he might play, and what does it mean to you as a guy who grew up watching him play here?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think after the accident, based on the information I'd heard, I would have just been happy to hear that he could walk with Charlie during his rounds at any point in time. I never even really thought about him playing golf again after everything he's been through, injuries over the years and such.

He already had his comeback in 2019, but I mean, how many comebacks has he had?

When I first heard he was -- I don't remember when it was, late last year into the new year maybe, that he could swing a club. You know, whenever he posted. I was very surprised and amazed at the ability to do that, and clearly that's what I wants to do is come back and play.

Q. About tonight's Champions Dinner, did you have a chance to see the menu?

JORDAN SPIETH: Oh, yeah.

Q. What did you think about the menu, and which item are you most excited for?

JORDAN SPIETH: I mean, I'm going to have seconds of all of it. I'm very excited. I played the Dunlop Phoenix in Miyazaki back in 2014, and I might make a lot of people mad in the state of Texas, but it's the best beef I've ever had. To be serving that tonight on top of miso cod and sushi to start, I'm very, very excited. I saw it today. I had no idea what route he was going to go, and I'm excited to shake his hand and say thank you at the end of the night.

I might have to get carted off.

Q. I was going to ask a Champions Dinner question on the menu front. What else about the dinner do you look forward to besides a menu like that?

JORDAN SPIETH: Stories. Stories that come up. I'm a little interested to see the dynamic with Mr. Crenshaw and Hideki at the head of the table. Hideki, I think his English has gotten a lot better, but I don't think it's like speak in front of everybody in English, but I'm not sure.

We've always had a great relationship, myself and Hideki, although short each time, just with the language barrier. Then Mr. Crenshaw is our host and will be obviously talking about Hideki's win and certain milestones of people there, but I think that dynamic will be pretty fun to watch at the head of the table.