JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 6, 2024

Jordan Spieth

TPC Deere Run

Quick Quotes

Q. Great round today out there. Thoughts on what went well.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, pretty much everything on the front nine, and it was really nice on the back, too. I thought it was a solid round. It felt a lot better than being 7-under through 16, and I feel almost like a weird disappointment at that point. So nice to hit two beautiful shots into 17 and half a roll from getting an eagle there.

All in all, those finishing pins were tougher. Fortunately, I don't think the field is going to make four birdies in a row to finish.

Most of them are out there a little before that. It was a good day. Did a lot of things well. I improved on yesterday and that was my goal.

Q. Another low round here at the John Deere Classic. You mentioned earlier this week just trying to recapture that magic and feel like a kid out there again. Did it almost feel like that again today, being a familiar spot where you've gone low on weekends before?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I've always started a little slow at this tournament, so it wasn't the plan, but once it happened, you know, I remember wanted to kind of shoot one of these rounds yesterday and feel like you're right in it.

But then it's a race. It's prime scoring conditions. We had quite a few front pins in bowls that you really needed to make birdie on. Sometimes that's the hardest part, is the shot almost seems too easy because we're not used to it.

Luckily I capitalized on those and made a couple putts. It was just a good solid round. No chip-ins, nothing spectacular, no crazy ones here or there.

But tomorrow if I can be as solid as I was today and maybe catch a couple extra breaks, it would take something extremely flawless to have a chance, but I'll try and do what I did today.

Q. The charges you made in your two wins here on the back side, do you take that mentality out of it?

JORDAN SPIETH: I would like to just improve on my back nine score tomorrow from today's. You know, so that's certainly something as I make the turn regardless what I do on the front I'll be sitting there going, man, I want to shoot the 4-under I felt like I should have shot yesterday.

Yeah, the last few holes can yield some trouble. You can -- guys can play them 1-over and that's happened in my wins. Some guys I was going against. You can also be 3-, 4-under on them.

So it's a great finishing stretch with a drivable hole on 14, 15 being hard, and then the last three.

So it's a cool, unique stretch kind of like when we play at Hartford where you can see some crazy runs of good stuff at the end if you're coming from behind. If you're in the lead, you got to be prepared for that.

So it's a little easier to be aggressive sometimes. I imagine that's what I'll have to be.

Q. Really had it rolling through 12. What was going through your mind at that point? And then what happened on the back nine when you hit that a little bit of a lull?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I had a really -- right in between clubs on like big in between -- actually had a really good number for sand wedge on 13, but you just can't hit it here because it's going to spin too much.

The softness of the greens made it a really bad number. I took a club that could go 15, 20 yards further than the number and try and take 20 off. Those are just unusual shots, but they're shots I need to have for the next two weeks as well and shots that you need here.

And so instead of kind of playing safe and spinning it back to 20 feet short, I said I get better if I take one more club. If I hit a good shot, great, and I became better. If I didn't, if I don't and miss-execute, I stand by my decision.

That's what I said when I got over there. I was in jail. I was happy that I chose to hit probably the less safe shot, the more challenging shot, but the one that can get pin high and stay there. Just a bad number and poorly executed chipping wedge. But it was really tough number to have.

And then the next hole I hit -- so really the lull was just those two holes, right? If I par there and birdie 14 from the position I was in I shoot 32 on the back and a 61.

So anything is probably going to be a lull from a 29.

It was just those two that I wish I played over, but 14 just -- both have to do with how soft the greens are. They made the shots somehow harder because the greens are softer from where I was.

That's why I missed couple fairways on the front nine, and I was glad. It was easier out of the rough to a number of pins. That happens out here some. Even though the rough is up, if you get a decent lie like I did on 6, I even had to go over and tree and I'm going, man, this is easier than the fairway because I don't have to take two, three extra clubs and chip it. I can just land it it's going to stay where it lands.

It's a great golf course. The only downfall sometimes here is sometimes you hit some nice shots that just -- someone can hit from a harder position and is end up being in a better spot. That's golf. That kind of happens everywhere.

Q. You made 100 feet of putts through 12. Were you just more aggressive with the putter today?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. Like I told you guys yesterday, I was hitting good putts and just leaving them short. I thought, try not to leave any short today. I left two short that would've gone in on 11 and 17, but other than that I did a good job sticking to getting them there.