THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2023

Jordan Spieth

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Obviously a great finish there, but overall thoughts on your round today?

JORDAN SPIETH: I had a bad day. Got off to a great start, and then I just got behind the driver, missed fairways on a few of those holes on the back nine. After No. 18, I hit a really nice driver and really nice wedge in there, I thought, it's go time, let's go on the back, and then just got into some wrong spots. Most every hole kind of hit it in the wrong spot.

It got really challenging, but I didn't help myself with some of the decisions I was making.

Yeah, the way I've been playing, pretty disappointing to not hold it at 3- or 4- or 5-under and feel like I'm in the thick of things, but if the wind stays up, I don't think the lead goes up too much, and on this course, just kind of like last week, it's a good -- if you're going to be behind, it's one of the few spots where you have a chance to make up a lot of room.

Only looking forward now, I got an extremely lucky break on 9 or I wouldn't be playing the weekend. Trying to get that guy's information and see literally whatever he wants this weekend because everything from here on out is because it hit him.

Yeah, very fortunate. Can't say I deserved it, but I tried to hold my attitude together and just keep on focusing trying one foot in front of the other. I don't know if that means I got rewarded for that or what, but overall I got very, very fortunate on 9.

Q. Could you talk about how fortunate you were?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, my left foot grabbed as I was transitioning, like pain, and I backed off and I thinned one, and I thinned it into the wind and it was right, which there's water left and right. It was going in one of the waters, and I get it hit the cart path and short-hopped off the guy's knee and then went out in the fairway forward, as well, and it must have been -- the way for it to go off of him, it also then went off his knee, up in the air, over some of the water. I mean, it's the equivalent of flying a green towards a hazard and hitting a grandstand and coming back on the green in a way. Needing to probably birdie to make the cut, I can't really birdie having to drop it over in the right rough over there after hitting my third. It would have been a one in a million make, instead I ended up making a 3. A lot of times I kind of feel bad about that and don't focus on the next shot, but I hit a 3-wood exactly where I wanted to and hit a chip exactly where I wanted to, so I'm very happy about rebounding from that. But yeah, I didn't see it, but when I struck it, I was like, that's out of play. Then all of a sudden they were like Joe, Max's caddie, said it got a huge kick it's in the fairway. I don't know what it can hit off of over there except for a person.

Q. You enjoy the game within the game there trying to make the cut and without the threat of it would anything have changed?

JORDAN SPIETH: Not at all. I enjoy nothing about being at the cut line. I seem to have a really hard time refocusing on the lead and pushing forward. At the same time, it wasn't like it was a gettable golf course those really last 11 or 12 holes. But it was before that.

A number of guys were able to post 7-, 6-, 5-under for two rounds, which having to play in some of the wind was -- but no, I just kept on saying, it's going to be really hard to make putts in this wind, so you've just got to be greens in regulation, greens in regulation.

After No. 5, I did a good job of that on 6 and 7, had some looks, and then I put a bad iron swing on it on 8, not knowing exactly where the wind was and made bogey, and figured I had to birdie 9, and got lucky.

Q. This course it feel come in playing well, they miss the cut. Guys come in having missed cuts they play well. What is it about this place that seems to be so finicky?

JORDAN SPIETH: Just about everything. I don't particularly love this place. When you say it like that, that's not exactly a good thing I don't think. Do you think? I mean, I guess if you're not playing well, you could always say, hey, this course yields an opportunity. But you'd like to see people who are in form, shots get rewarded -- I hit a lot of bad shots. I played poorly today. I'm not in that scenario right now. But I just think --

Q. Do you find it tricky?

JORDAN SPIETH: It's extremely tricky. There's not really one shot that's not tricky because even the ones that seem so basic, if you don't hit it into that section, it just starts to -- everything kind of funnels away from holes here, and that just gets really odd.

You have to be extremely precise, and when the wind picks up, you've got to shot-make, and if you miss fairways out here you're really in big trouble. If you're missing fairways, no one is playing well missing fairways out here. You just have to be coming out of the short grass to have a chance to be hitting greens in regulation.

I think if you look at fairway percentage, most of the time anybody in the top 10 or 20 is going to have found a lot of them, more so than other golf courses relative to the field.

Q. Did you know where the ball was going today?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I actually have been swinging it fine. I just got behind. I toed a couple drives early and it really messed me up because then I got to a couple holes where you couldn't hit it left, and I just got -- I shoved them out.

I think if I hit better tee balls on 10, 11, 12, which I was 2-under through those three, but I didn't hit a good tee ball --

Q. 10 was good.

JORDAN SPIETH: I drop kicked it off the toe. I hit the ground first, just drew into the fairway. It wasn't a good shot, it just worked out. But what I'm saying is then I step on 14 with the wind off the right and I'm like, I feel like it might go left if I get in front of it.

I just got a little late through the early part of that round, and then I felt pretty good about actually after that. Just played the wrong shots on 4 and 5, and they cost me two or three shots.

Q. How much harder is this than Harbour Town?

JORDAN SPIETH: They're the same designer, very different. I think it's a lot harder because it's longer and it's more exposed. Then the finish here is obviously extremely tricky. Harbour Town is a little easier of a finish.

Q. It's softer?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, just less can go wrong. You don't have a two-shot penalty waiting on any swing like you do here.

Q. For those who get it going south, which happens all the time in this game, is there anything about this course that when you are going south is more difficult to get momentum going the other direction?

JORDAN SPIETH: Just like -- I wouldn't say it's different than last week or any of the more challenging venues that we play, but it's just so hard to force birdies. Like you have to almost sit back and be like, okay, where are my birdie chances today, and there's four or five of them.

I hit two good shots or one good shot here, it yields a really good birdie opportunity, and the rest -- if you're going south, a lot of times you've -- I bogeyed No. 2 today when I had an iron into the green. All of a sudden that just got rid of one of my good opportunities, now I've got a few hard holes in a row and you've got maybe No. 6, maybe No. 9 left.

You feel even like your back is more against the wall because you're like, I know it's going to be really hard to birdie a couple of those, but I lost a lot of my good opportunities, I guess, in a way.

That's not different really from last week, but if you have to force anything when it's going south versus like, all right, I'm a few over, but the winning score is going to be 18-under, there's plenty of time to make it up, just limit the mistakes. This is like you're trying to limit the mistakes every holes so you're not focusing on trying to shoot 8- or 9-under, I guess. It's just a hard course. Hard to make birdies.