FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP

August 11, 2023

Jordan Spieth

TPC Southwind

Quick Quotes

Q. You said yesterday you played a lot of golf in the time off to sort of simulate trying to go out there and shoot a score. How about today given where the ball-striking was, did it help trying to see you manufacture a number, which you ended up doing?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, for sure. It's funny, I felt like I had better control of my swing today than yesterday. I got stuck kind of with a couple numbers where I maybe played the wrong shot, wrong decision, and didn't play patiently early. Then I made a couple bad swings, as well.

To your point, some of the shots around the greens and being able to save myself -- like you just can't really go simulate those practicing very easily.

I thought that was certainly helpful on a day like today, like you said. If you're striping it, you're striping it, and if you're hitting every green, then you don't really need that.

But like you mentioned today, I certainly relied on it a bit.

Q. Talk to me about the bunker shot on 4. Where were you looking?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I had a bit of green, and ideally the wind that -- I felt like I actually hit a pretty nice first shot, and it just never came out of the sky.

I was surprised to see it so severely on the downslope. If it had come down in the middle, it was a pretty cake shot.

As long as I carried the rough and landed it on the fringe or just on the green, I thought it would be somewhere in the five- to six-foot range, and then when it was tracking, it was right on line, I'm like, wow. It hit the pin and went in. I did what I could do and relied a bit on luck there for it to actually drop.

Q. You said you played a lot back home from 7:00 to noon until the heat became unbearable. Does that help on a day like this and how difficult was it maintaining mental focus with this heat?

JORDAN SPIETH: I've been telling Michael, this is nothing, this is nothing this week, and then today I'm like, man, I was wrong. I'm humbled. It's just a different kind of heat.

But it felt like it was just coming off the ground. Like you could just feel the water coming off the ground. I'll bring two shirts from now on and change at the turn because that was -- I was struggling a bit early in the round. I had some goosebumps -- it was something that shouldn't happen.

I just was taken aback a little bit.

I probably overdid the warmup and stuff and may shorten it a bit tomorrow. But that was hot. It was a tough day. But I think staying home and playing in the heat probably helped, but more just playing golf.

Q. Was there any time you were worried about staying upright?

JORDAN SPIETH: No, no, I just kind of felt like I was foggy in some of my decisions. Like I kind of felt like, man, what was I thinking hitting that club there when I could have hit this one. Like I was trying to -- I just stepped up, grabbed a club, and I was so worried about it being dry and then all of a sudden I'm over the ball and I'm like, what am I doing here.

I had a couple of those that -- specifically on No. 12 and No. 15, a couple wedge shots from the fairway that both went long left when I could have taken some spin off and hit it lower.

But that was kind of it. Everybody is dealing with it. I just got a little lazy with my decisions today.

Q. How many bottles of water, Gatorade --

JORDAN SPIETH: I drank a ton of my LivPur hydration packets. I think you can't overdo it.

Yeah, I was trying to force it down. I tried to force down food, too. Just got to do anything to continue to have energy.

It was hot. But it's hot a lot. I'm not going to sit there and say we haven't had this kind of heat before. But coming from the Scottish and British, it was certainly a little bit different.

Q. Was it a drastic difference with the greens today compared to the previous days?

JORDAN SPIETH: I was surprised, I thought they were potentially a little slower today than yesterday, and I wasn't expecting that. I left two putts short on line on the first two holes, and I didn't think -- when I struck them, I didn't think they were short.

They were actually faster than I thought they would be yesterday after all that rain in the morning.

But they're always next to perfect. Some of the best surfaces we see. I don't think they're going to get slower as we get into the weekend.

If anything, I thought they were maybe like a half a foot slower today.

Q. You mentioned shortening up your practice regimen going into tomorrow's round. Do you want to work on stuff after the round today?

JORDAN SPIETH: No. Yeah, Michael goes, are we hitting any after? I go, yeah, let's go play nine at a course -- let's go walk nine at a course near here. There's no chance.

I did yesterday, and I just felt like I maybe overdid it just a little bit.

I don't necessarily think it'll mean I'll spend less time, but I went out there and was trying to pepper numbers on the range like it was a normal practice session day, and I think I could probably hit half the shots in the same amount of time.

Q. Did the finish annoy you? Is that going to linger a little bit?

JORDAN SPIETH: Not really. No. I thought the wedge I hit in was tracking in closer, and it kind of just dropped down, and I was probably 17, 18 feet. I wish I had hit it a little firmer, but I think it still would have missed on the right side.

Q. Did you feel like the decisions you made as the round goes on and you're only getting more tired --

JORDAN SPIETH: I didn't really, to be honest. I just hit a couple better shots.

I will say after No. 3 -- No. 3 was probably one of the worst decisions I made. Michael was all over, this isn't the shot, this isn't the shot, and I was like, I think I can pull this one off. And then I hit it, and I'm like, yeah, I can't really hook that out of this rough into this wind.

After that I was like, all right, if I just -- I'm playing well enough. Just stop making the bad decisions and we'll go under par from here. So it was nice to be 1-under from there even though it was a weird way of getting there.

Q. Did it feel like today you should be able wear shorts?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't think it would have made a difference at all. My shirt made me weigh five more pounds today. I don't think the pants added much to it.

Honestly, I don't -- sure, if they gave us the option, I would have worn shorts, but I don't think it would have made that much of a difference. You'd have just seen the sweat dripping down my legs instead of having dark pants on.