PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 21, 2023

Jordan Spieth

Oak Hill Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Pretty much the same as it's been all week?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, surprisingly two weeks ago I would have signed up for this easily. As of now, I feel good enough. It's kind of a week-to-week thing because if it feels any worse, I need to lay off of it, but just do the right recovery over the next couple of days. If anything, it should improve even more.

Q. Next week is Colonial, is that right?

JORDAN SPIETH: I'm playing Colonial.

Q. Then Memorial?

JORDAN SPIETH: That's the plan. My schedule was Colonial, Memorial, week off, U.S. Open, and then see about it might be the one I miss is Travelers, but I'm not sure now that I didn't play Byron, and I only played a couple of days in Charlotte, so we'll see.

Q. What did you make of this test this week?

JORDAN SPIETH: I thought it was about as good a job as I can remember since Oakmont of an extremely tough, fair test. I just thought it was just the weather was a bit of a shame yesterday throwing -- making it to where it just softened it up, slowed it up a bit yesterday, and then it stayed that way a little today, but the greens were wicked fast. They were so pure.

The fairways still had some bounce, but it wasn't the same. But those first two days it was fun, but really hard at the same time. Everyone is going to be out of position. It was just such a mental test, and that's where my mistakes were made. I attacked a couple of pins that had no business attacking and lost four or five shots just on stuff that I could avoid, let alone coming in a bit, call it, major rusty in way of preparation.

It kind of is a course, as you saw, as I've seen a lot of headlines of guys just getting outwardly really frustrated, myself included. I never thought it was unfair in setup, and that's really hard to do is to make it this hard and still fair, and the guys that are playing the best work their way up there.

I thought it was really cool. I didn't remember much from ten years ago, but from what I do remember, it was fantastic relative to that slosh-fest we had in August ten years ago.

Q. Jordan, what role did your faith play in preparation for the tournament today, this weekend?

JORDAN SPIETH: I guess just I prayed a bit about my wrist when I hurt it. I just kind of wanted things to get better. Yeah, when you are out there, I'm just playing a game. I just try to remember that it's a game.

Kind of try and look for a way to will it in, but seemed to be a lot of -- I think the holes were cut a bit smaller this week. I've seen more horseshoe lip-outs this week than I saw anywhere ever.

Q. What do you do to find peace after the tournament is over? Might have not went the way you wanted, but what do you do to find peace?

JORDAN SPIETH: I just go home, dunk my head in a cold plunge, ice my brain a little bit. When you are kind of getting -- it's what I love to do.

I wouldn't trade my job for anything, but after a taxing week like this, sometimes your brain is a little fried. You just get a lot of people screaming at you every time you walk in between. You just hear some ringing in your ears.

For me I go back. I cold-plunge, take a day off, and then I'm ready to go.

Q. Jordan, what do you think about the bunkering being as deep as it was? Nobody is really complaining, but do you think that's a trend going forward to challenge you guys more, or was it exceptionally different from what you experienced?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think around the greens it's great. It's a little -- in the fairways I think it should be really dependent on the hole itself. If it's a shorter hole that you should hit the fairway on, then they should be pretty challenging to where you would have to think about hitting a 9-iron or something or it may not carry the lip.

There are some holes out here where it's, like, there isn't a good shot. I'm not saying me specifically, but I'm saying you could hit a fantastic shot and then end up where you have to punch out. You can't hit it 6 yards left of where you did or it's in the left rough.

I think they're a little -- when they got wet yesterday was the best they played because then you would actually get it down where you could get club on ball and really advance it out of the fairway bunkers.

Green side is great. The deepest ones are on the drivable hole. Makes it a significant challenge, and then the ones right at 18, you shouldn't miss it down right of 18. Then when that becomes a difficult shot, the one on of the left is up higher.

I think he did a fantastic job with this place. It's a mix of square greens and then we had -- I can't remember ever having as many 3 and 3 pins. They weren't just 3 and 3. They were three, three, three, like every angle. Just in the back corners. No. 2 was unbelievable all four days. That was a hole where they gave you a fairway. It was the only hole where you really got a freebie in the fairway.

Q. So the links philosophy of punch-out, basically it's a stroke penalty. It didn't necessarily work.

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, it's not a links course, is it?

Q. No, it's not. In America it's harder to do, harder to justify.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, fescue doesn't grow naturally, so you don't have firm enough conditions most places to be able to do that. That's the grass that will play the firmest.

I mean, there are some really good American links, but they play more aerial than it does over there, but there's still some fantastic --

Q. I just meant the bunkering.

JORDAN SPIETH: I think on a course like this, let's put it this way, No. 4 I would have just combined all three of those into one bunker in a way because it's a par-5 and the fairway is already the width of my feet. With how firm the fairways were, you know, today I actually was able to get it on in two, but you had to hit it in a gnat's ass off the tee and then work a draw around the trees and get the right kick.

I hit in those bunkers, and they were just punch-outs, but I was 3 yards away from the only spot I could hit it.

There's only a couple of situations like that, but I think that the depth and playing like pop bunkers probably doesn't fit, but the bunkering as a whole I thought was fantastic.

Riviera has bunkers like this everywhere, but you see it flatter in areas that give you -- like No. 7 on the left side. If it trickles in, you have a shot at the green, but if it goes in firm, you hit a bad shot, and you then are dealing with stuff.

So the firmness of the fairways made a big difference in how everything else plays more than anything else I think this week.

Q. Before you hurt your wrist, were you feeling as good coming into this major as you have since you've been trying complete the --

JORDAN SPIETH: Off of Hilton Head, I would have said I'm as excited as ever to have this opportunity, for sure. Then from there I went downhill for a bit.

I don't want to say threw out. I tweaked my back really bad heading into Charlotte Monday morning. Just hit the 4-iron out there on Monday, and Tuesday went really easy, and then I ended up playing poorly kind of fighting it a little bit, and I did the hand on Friday evening.

So I just had a couple of random things that instead of really gaining on Hilton Head going forward and really that stretch of Augusta Sunday to Hilton Head, it's life, that's what happens. My expectations changed. I didn't think I would be here.

So, again, it's like a hand, like, this is something that hockey guys wouldn't have even told anybody about and gone back out and played. I'm not -- the fact that it got better this fast is really nice, but I was definitely in a position where as a golfer it was not going to be useful to come here and just did.

I had a great team around me, and it healed pretty quickly. I say healed. I was able to get into my grip and make swings at full speed.

Yeah, in that sense if I look back then, I'm a bit disappointed, but coming into the week, it would have been hard for me not sign with where I am, and that's really weird for me to say in a major.

So I feel good. I feel like I'm going to just trend back upwards in that direction that I was a month ago. I've got Colonial. I have a good history there. Jack's Place is pure, and then LACC will be similar to this but with some Bermuda and bent grass. That Bermuda will be really nice. It will feel like what I'm used to.