CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE

May 22, 2024

Jordan Spieth

Colonial CC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Jordan Spieth to the interview room here at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge. Jordan making your 12th start here. We're going to start off with some comments, what it's like to be back for a hometown event?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's 12th start here, but really the first start in the new Colonial era. I saw the course yesterday, nine holes, and then plan on playing nine, weather permitting today. I think Gil did a really, really good job from what I can tell playing it once. I think it's tough, I imagine it's tough for a course designer to bring a course back in time, but accommodating the modern game; making it maybe more playable for an average member 51 weeks of the year, but still a championship golf course making it as or more difficult for us. I guess time will tell over the next four days, but it really seems like he's somehow done that and that's really cool. A great golf course like Colonial that's got a great reputation for 70-plus years, you know, it's easy to come in saying, what in the world are we going to do here. Then I've heard good reviews from the members that I've talked to ahead of time, and then from the professionals so far. So I'm excited for the week and excited to see what this tournament brings going forward and hopefully it has a good first showing and continues to get better and better.

THE MODERATOR: Sticking with the course design, before you came in here you were speaking with Gil. What did he have to share about the course and did you have any feedback for him?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, he asked me a couple questions and I just, as I do, seem to just go off on a rant, so I actually didn't ask him much -- a good rant -- but pretty much what I said here. I was like, I think you did a great job -- and some of the intricacies of some of the cool, you know, pin locations that we had that you had every single year you knew exactly where it was going to be, but it still would fool you. Even though the green's in a different location in space, right, they're lowered or they're moved or whatever, some of these hole locations and slopes on those greens have been maintained. 17 and 18 in particular, to have essentially the same putts that you're used to seeing, but it's a different green and a different hole all together. Then you have a number of greens that are completely different and in a different place. That mix was kind of cool to the nerd in me to be able to still draw back on some putts that I've had in the past and some course knowledge, but there's at the same time on you can throw it out the window on a lot of other holes.

THE MODERATOR: Before we open it up to questions, on quite a stretch here of golf, playing your fourth in a row, coming off PGA Championship last week. How are you feeling, especially that we're halfway through the season?

JORDAN SPIETH: I feel good. It's nice that I'm able to be in my own bed. This tournament's always actually felt like kind of an exhale from the, the Byron feels a little bit to me, a little bit more busy, and then you stuff in either THE PLAYERS back in the day or now the PGA Championship, along with Quail Hollow, you know, it's nice to have a week off after this, I've never had a week off after, so I can kind of feel like I can use up whatever's there and then take a few days off and I'm looking to improve. I did a lot of good things the last couple weeks and improving on some stuff I wanted to and I still have some parts of the game that need some work and hopefully knock that out today and into the beginning of this weekend it gets better and better.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Did you play the front or the back?

JORDAN SPIETH: I played the back yesterday.

Q. What did you think of 13?

JORDAN SPIETH: I told Gil, I said, the only one that didn't, that kind of stood out and wasn't like the others was 13. As long as the right tee box is played I think it's a fantastic par-3. But if it could also be -- it could be the best hole on the course or the worst hole on the course depending upon where the tees are, given the hole locations and the wind. The firmness of the greens, it's not really, doesn't seem to me to be able to yield holding 5-irons, but if it's a mid iron in, a good shot gets really rewarded. Then if you miss in the wrong spot, you can be in big trouble. You could have over 10 feet for par even hitting a good chip. So it's a good risk/reward par-3 from the right tee box now. It was probably the most shocked of any hole that I walked up to the green to that I saw yesterday.

Q. One of the things that TOUR guys are really good at goofing on each other, especially guys you have known for a long time. So I talked to some other north Texas pros. What have you -- have you been able to goof on Scottie any since last week or what do you have planned for him coming up?

JORDAN SPIETH: It's kind of, I would say it's kind of a sensitive to be -- I'm not -- I wouldn't say it's necessarily -- it's the saying, it's too soon. So, yeah, maybe eventually, if things all work out the right way.

Q. Just with all the story lines at the TOUR and then you see a winner like Xander last week winning his first major, are there any results that you watch and you actually gain inspiration from other players?

JORDAN SPIETH: I've been playing with Xander for seven, better part of seven years now, and if you asked me, is there any doubt in your mind that he would win major championships I would say there's -- I don't know a weakness in his game, so it's just a matter of time, so it's not surprising at all. Am I inspired? Yeah. I mean, one thing that he's been doing that's been different is he's looked to add speed, but did it like very methodically, very quietly, very in the dark. It's been amazing watching him go after tournament rounds, like on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and he'll go to the work out trailer and hit a heavy gym session after the round. It's not common out here. There's a few guys that will do it, but it's still not common. Everybody goes before now. 10, 12 years ago half the field went before, now everybody does. But he's going after and hitting these heavy workouts with a goal in mind that he thought would gain a slight advantage over -- he already had a lot of speed, and he did it while maintaining his consistency and his short game, and it just allowed him to hit shorter clubs into greens, maybe over the course of four rounds being a shot or two. The way he approached that patiently is extremely inspiring. I'm not a very patient person and I think that's gotten me in trouble in a lot of times in my career, as far as the process. Like trusting the process and giving it time and not having to have results right away. He didn't seem bothered by close calls. He had to answer a lot of questions regarding Sundays or whatever, and I remember having those for a year or two as well and then, you know, I was more patient back then because I was playing consistently better, so it was easier to be more patient. Once it goes your way, then you start thinking they're all going to go your way, and then they do. So I wouldn't be surprised if this is just the beginning.

Q. I had two questions for you. For somebody who has followed your career for a long time, been familiar with you, I always wanted to ask you this, do you ever feel like you were a victim of your own success, that right out of the gate it created this expectation for you that you were Tiger, you were all these guys, and that's a very, very hard standard to maintain and almost unrealistic. Did you ever feel that way at all as you've gotten older?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, certainly. But I think the healthy way to do it is that being of my own expectation, right, not of anyone else's. But, yeah, absolutely. Once I know what I'm capable of, I want to obviously stay there. If you fall from that even a little bit it frustrates you, and then if you fall quite a pit from that you can be wondering what in the world is going on. It can overtake you, and it did for me for a little while. I think I have a better perspective now, but at the same time the drive to get to where I know my ceiling is at has never been higher. So every day that I'm not there it's still, I still walk away, if I feel like I progressed towards it, I walk away really, really pleased with my day. But some days I feel like I didn't and instead of being okay with that -- back to this patient talk -- you know, I lose a little patience because I know what I am capable of and not sustaining that every year is something that I'm not okay with personally. So, I think it's something that I wouldn't change anything that he's ever happened to me, I've accomplished pretty, most all the goals that I had in golf, albeit, you know, in a short period of time, but the nature of sustaining that is something that I would like to have another opportunity at and I'll continue to work towards.

Q. The other thing is where pro golf is right now and what you tell family and friends and how you think this may ultimately shake out between LIV and the TOUR and what this might look like in the end of the year or anything like that?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, I tell, I don't tell anyone anything that I'm not supposed to tell anyone (smiling.)

I think, and I said it last week, I think the narrative that things are in a bad place and are moving slowly and, you know, some of the things that are asked to me or said are untrue. I think that I -- I know that it's false, actually. Things are actually moving positively from both sides. I think ultimately we'll end up in a place where professional golf is maybe the best that it's ever been. I think both sides believe that. I think although there's always frustrations I think in deal making -- and I'm not a part of the deal making. From what I do know, it's cordial, there's open dialog, and it's moving along at the pace that it's moving along. And anything else that's said about it is just, I just know to be false. So I'm very optimistic I think is what I would say out of all of it. I think that's starting to resonate amongst players as they're able to get more and more information on the matter and it will continue to get more and more information over the coming months.

Q. (Question about why he chose Texas for college.)

JORDAN SPIETH: So he asked, I had my choice of colleges as a junior golfer, what choices did I look at and why did I choose Texas. I visited Stanford, UCLA and USC. I went out to California a couple times and I looked at those three schools, and then I had Oklahoma State and Texas. So I had five schools, two were close to home and three were out in California. There was a time, my parents would tell you, after each visit I was so impressionable that I said I was going there and I want to call the coach and verbally commit, to each one of the schools. Probably, rightfully so, I was told to take a breather, let it sit, let's go through all the visits first. Ultimately I knew the guys on the team at Texas, I knew that there was going to be All-Americans there the second I walked in the door, so I was going to be competing against the best in the country day-to-day. I knew them, I knew a lot of them going back, you know, five, six, seven years before that, which I think was important. And I loved Coach Fields, I loved that he would take a bullet for his guys. I think I could say the same about all the coaches of the schools I visited. Ultimately also, when you grow up in Dallas and your parents didn't go to either OU, A&M or Texas, you're forced to pick one. And I was a Texas fan anyways for, just because you have to pick one of the three from when I was really young, and I think that ultimately was the difference maker too.

Q. (Question about Cody Gribble.)

JORDAN SPIETH: Cody was a guy who I was saying I had known for six, seven years prior to that, so Cody was the best junior golfer in the Dallas area growing up. I caddied for him in a U.S. Amateur qualifier at the club that I grew up at back when he was probably in high school and I was in grade school or something, maybe a freshman in high school. But he was a big factor. I mean, he was pressing, non-stop. He was always, he was reaching out, he was letting me know what it's like there, and on my unofficial visits he was the one who made sure to spend time with me along with -- and he got the rest of the guys to do so too, and he was a huge part of why I went to Texas.

THE MODERATOR: Perfect. Thank you, Jordan.

JORDAN SPIETH: Thanks.