THE 151ST OPEN

July 21, 2023

Jordan Spieth

Mixed Zone

Q. Great start, very good out, not so good back. 2-under at the end of the day, happy with that?

JORDAN SPIETH: My goal was to shoot 2 today, so not quite, especially at the turn. But hit some really nice shots. I felt like I didn't miss a shot on the par-5s, and I played them even, which is really odd.

But a couple tough breaks in bunkers, but that's going to happen out here.

Just would have missed a couple putts around the turn on 9 and 10, and then second-guessed a couple lines, so I kind of felt like I lost a few on the greens that I had yesterday. I felt like I played as well or better than yesterday.

Needed to really post a score. I understand a lot can happen at an Open, but eight shots is a lot of shots to spot a player who's playing really well.

Q. You started in the sunshine; finished with the first bit of raindrops. Do you sense the conditions changing?

JORDAN SPIETH: It got a lot colder our last three holes. Temperature dropped a lot. That certainly makes the wind a little bit heavier, makes the course play a bit different. At this point I was hoping that that would continue.

But regardless, I think it -- I don't know how the scores show, but it seems like it was a pretty even draw in two days at The Open, which is very unusual. You've got some guys from each wave playing some good golf, and tomorrow is looks like it's going to rain most of the day, so that'll be a different element.

I played most of my practice rounds in the rain, so at this point, fortunate that I did that.

Q. You've always come across as a guy that can fight and scrap. Is that what it's going to take over the weekend?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I haven't looked ahead to Sunday, but tomorrow could be a little bit like that. I think the wind is down tomorrow, but yeah, if it's going to be a grind, I'm certainly up for the challenge.

Q. Did you see the memo on what they did with the bunkers?

JORDAN SPIETH: Michael told me, but I mean, I'm not sure if it made much of a difference, to be honest.

Q. Compared to yesterday to today, did you think it was a good move, and why did you think they needed to do it?

JORDAN SPIETH: That's not really on me -- I don't think I really hit it into a bunker yesterday, and so I didn't think much of it.

But today on 18 I guess technically it may have helped me be able to go forward versus backwards, but it was still one of those -- I wasn't even planning on necessarily getting it out.

I think the reason is because you have these downwind par-5s where you can hit really, really nice shots into greens the way that they ask you to play them, and then they can end up essentially -- maybe sometimes more than a full stroke penalty depending on where it ends up, and you hit the right shot.

It makes sense. The into-the-wind holes it doesn't matter as much. The downwind holes it makes a big difference because the ball will just continue to chase until it stops, and if you have just a little bit of an upslope or the ball comes back just a couple inches from where it would have yesterday, that could mean getting it out of the bunker versus having to play backwards like Tony did yesterday on that one hole.

That's a good example on a par-5. You saw some on 18 yesterday, as well. That's where you're trying to hit it. I was 270-something yards away today and I hit a 4-iron five yards left of the front edge of the green, and then I can't advance my ball more than a few feet out of the bunker, but that's The Open Championship, and these bunkers make this golf course.

I think it was a good move. I think the rain will make a big difference tomorrow. I think it'll make it more playable. Balls will bounce off and move more towards the middle ever so slightly and you'll be able to get more club on the ball.

Q. When you're trying to chase somebody down where Brian is right now, would you rather have what you presume the forecast is going to be, or would you rather have tougher conditions?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think I'd rather have a day like today where it can get 15- to 20 mile-an-hour winds more than anything else. I want the winds to sustain. It's hard to score if you have rain and wind, but if you just have wind, you can certainly do something.

Rain just brings a whole 'nother factor. You can hit a really nice shot and get water between the face and the ball and it's 30 yards right. It just happens. It's almost unpreventable in some cases.

I think there will always be wind out here, so if I can post an under-par round each of the next two days, it might be enough.

But I think we'll just have to look at what Brian will do. He's in control now. It's on him. He's obviously fully -- I watched some of his round. He's made a ton of putts. He's chipped in. He's done what you need to around here, hitting fairways and greens, as well. That gives yourself those 20-footers, and you have enough of them, you're going to start holing them out here, and that's what he's doing.

Q. Are you surprised to see one player so far ahead of the field?

JORDAN SPIETH: I would say if you asked me one tournament where somebody could be -- there's probably two tournaments I wouldn't be surprised is five plus clear in two rounds. It's The Open and the U.S. Open.

Q. Why?

JORDAN SPIETH: Just because of the carnage that -- just out here you can have somebody that's holing a lot of putts, has the ball chip in or hit the pin. You had both of those today, which -- and then at the U.S. Open if you just have somebody that's just so on point and shot 7-under one round or 6-under, the rest of the field could be pretty far back.

I think it has to do with the difficulty of golf courses. But still yielding -- if you have great control, you can still score. They've put pins in very difficult locations that if you don't have discipline, you can get in really tough spots within 20 feet of the hole, but if you're the other side 20 feet you're looking at making birdie, and that's what he's done so well.

I think he continues to do that, it's hard to make up eight shots having to birdie. But if the conditions get really tough and he's able to -- and he drops a couple shots, I mean, 36 holes is a long time, but personally, where I was at the turn, I was really looking at being at 6-under and really feeling a bit better about it right now.

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