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AT&T NATIONALJune 30, 2013Jordan SpiethBETHESDA, MARYLAND Q. Early on in your career, this is just another solid week, wasn't it? JORDAN SPIETH: It was. It was a little different scenario. I was in a position where I slept on a lead. It was cool. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the experience. Although today started off well and ended a little bit on a downer as far as playing the back side 1 over, all in all, started the week, couldn't ask for anything more. It was awesome. Q. It was fun to watch because it looked like, as the golf course got harder, you were rising to the challenge. There were a couple of stumbles yesterday, but it seems like you're right where you want to be. JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. It's‑‑ my swing wasn't where I wanted it, and neither was my putting stroke. I know that's hard to say, but my swing is a little flat at the top. So I had some missed from the middle of the fairway, made a couple of bogeys or doubles throughout the week. But grinded. Made all my 6‑footers and in. You got to make a lot of putts to win out here. Obviously, Bill is showing you this. 11 under is a tremendous score on this golf course if he holds up. That's a well‑deserved winner. Q. Over $1 million in earnings now on the PGA Tour. When I say that, what goes through your mind? More than you ever could have hoped for your first year? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. I mean, starting the year out, I wouldn't have imagined. I'm just happy to be out here. I'm just happy to be playing week in and week out. I'm lucky to have a place to play. The money, it's nice that it comes with it. I'm trying to get a win, and this is a great step forward for me. Q. That's a great attitude. Keep it going. JORDAN SPIETH: A lot of positives. I slept for the first time on a lead, at least tied for the lead. That was, I thought, really cool. Yesterday was a little off day, and I was really happy to come back and shoot a round of 60 on this golf course today. I'm not sure how I'll finish up here, fifth or sixth, but I'm extremely excited going forward. This is a step in the right direction. Q. What do you learn about yourself in these situations? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, there's a lot. You feel the pressure, and you feel the adrenaline rush. It doesn't happen all the time, but what I learned yesterday was, when I didn't make a bogey or did make a mistake, I compounded it once or twice, and it's just so easy to do. I improved from even the past before that, but I did a great job today. And when I did make a couple bogeys, saying it's not a big deal. Still got a couple of birdie holes left and was able to get one coming in. Q. How long do you think it takes for you to learn how to become completely comfortable from Thursday morning all the way to Sunday night? JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know if anybody does unless you get a certain number of wins. I mean, everyone's going to feel the adrenaline and the pressure. Whoever can channel it positively is going to be the one that comes out on top. It looks like Bill is doing that just fine today.       JORDAN SPIETH: I had a lead at the turn, and I knew I was going to give myself plenty of chances. The way I was striking the ball this week, I had 10 or 15‑footers, and I thought they were going to drop, and they didn't drop. I just had so many dive across the lip on the back nine today, or it could have been a different story. I learned‑‑ I struck the ball better contending this week than I did contending in past weeks, and so now I'll just go work on my putting for next week. Q. Regarding your age and what you've done so far this year, I think you get a lot more attention. Do you like being in the spotlight? Do you like getting that attention? JORDAN SPIETH: I wouldn't say I like it or dislike it. It's just‑‑ I guess comes with it. I enjoy when the crowds come out. I enjoy‑‑ you always want to make a birdie and hear the roar. You want to chip in the bunker shot. But if something happened on 17 or 18 there, it would have been really cool with the atmosphere at this tournament. But that's what I enjoy is having all the people come out and really support you. You're walking down fairways here and hear, "Go, Jordan. Go, Spieth." It's nice to have that support. Q. Talk about the play on 1. JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, finally, I figure hitting driver four rounds in a row, I wasn't going to hit the fairway all four with how tight it is up there. I hit a good drive, and it ended up on a perfect lie in that bunker, just didn't carry the sand. Honestly, just had a good number. It was 129 and just wanted to punch a pitching wedge. Just playing for par. Obviously, with the pin on the shelf, you just play for par. When it came off the face, it just came off right on the middle, and that's kind of rare in a bunker. You normally try and hit it a little thin. Just hit right in the middle of the face. It was cool how it just trickled in. Even when it landed and then we were just kind of cheering, I didn't think it was going in, and it dropped. It was the start we needed. Q. Jordan, wild and crazy round for you, going up and down what do you really take of this going forward? JORDAN SPIETH: From this week? Q. Yes. JORDAN SPIETH: Like I said, a lot of positives striking the ball when I felt pressure. Yesterday I‑‑ or I slept on a lead Friday night and got off Saturday going birdie, birdie to start, which is really, really big for me, not just through this week, but in the future knowing that you can sleep on a lead, come out ready to play even with the nerves and get the ball in the hole. I learned that my putting, I just need to have a little more confidence. I got a little down on myself. I had six or seven left to righters in a row and missed them all on the right side. So I need to just get on the putting green. And that's what happens when you get nervous. That's normally the first thing to go is the putter. I felt pretty good on the back nine. They just didn't fall. Q. Jordan, there hasn't been a teenager win on the PGA Tour in I think it's 82 years. Would it be a little more special, try a little harder to get your name on the record books? JORDAN SPIETH: That's not exactly why I try to win. I try to win just because I want to win. But, yeah, being able to come out here and compete, to call these guys, the best players in the world, kind of my peers is an honor, and I just‑‑ I like competing. I like feeling the pressure. I like getting nervous. It's a cool feeling for me. It's a feeling that it's so difficult to master. You see a few guys master it. Tiger, I don't even think, if he was tied for a lead in the Major anymore, I don't even know if he feels pressure. So that's kind of a point that I want to get to, and the only way to do that is to keep on getting in position. Q. How has the course played for you this week? You're looking at another top ten finish. JORDAN SPIETH: It was great. It's a U.S. Open course, and it was long because it was wet. I think they would have liked the greens to be a little firmer and the scores be a little higher, but there's nothing you can do about it with the weather. I mean, it was very, very fair, and it was a great test. If you miss the fairway, you had to catch a good lie or work really hard to get it on the green, but you could. That's what I think was great. That's why you can see guys shooting 11 under because they could work with it even if they had a small miss. Q. With the contract for this site up this year, are you looking for this site to move, or would you like to be here again? JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know the site it's looking to move to, so I can't tell you what I would prefer. I love it here. This is my second year playing here. I didn't play The Open, but it's one of America's great golf courses. People would put Congressional up there top 20 in the whole country, I think. It's just‑‑ it's a tremendous test for this golf tournament. It's great for a PGA Tour event that attracts the best players in the world. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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