|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
JOHN DEERE CLASSICJuly 13, 2013Jordan SpiethSILVIS, ILLINOIS Q.  Great par at the last. How pleased are you with the round as a whole? JORDAN SPIETH: Just happy to get it in. I had it tough on 17, back of the bunker there, pretty good shot to make par, and got really, really lucky on 18. Ball hit the tree to keep it from going in the water. I'm very thrilled at the round. I felt like it was a solid round, only missed a couple greens, and Scott and I were able to feed off each other and it was a lot of fun. Looking forward to hopefully doing the same thing tomorrow. Q. You continue to play well week after week. What is the confidence level like for you as you know next year is sewn up and you can really focus on one tournament each and every week? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think the only way to compete out here is to have a lot of confidence in your game, and honestly the last few weeks have been great to me on very different golf courses, and out here you have to make a lot of birdies. First round at 1‑under I was pretty far out of it, knew something had to happen, so fortunately I've caught a few good breaks over the last couple days and gotten some more putts to fall. But yeah, it's just all confidence in your ball‑striking out here, and got a lot of work in this week on the range to fix a few things, and it seems to be showing through right now. Q. How does that confidence carry over to tomorrow? JORDAN SPIETH: You know, I hope it does. I'm going to go to the range and just try and sink it in. I'm striking the ball well so I want to have those same swings on the range. I'm going to have to shoot a really low round. By no means am I going to be close to the lead. Those guys still have seven, eight holes left with a lot of birdies. It's going to be a bunched leaderboard, and something special is going to have to happen, but I feel like I'm ready for it. Q. Not a bad day for you. Kind of talk about your round. JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it was solid. I hit a lot of greens. I think I only missed two greens and got those up‑and‑down, made good par saves on those holes, and I think those are key. 9 and 18, getting it in there, seeing a putt go in. I missed a couple shorties on the back nine, but very pleased with the round and I'm probably going to have to shoot another round like that or even better tomorrow to win, but nice to be in contention. Q. Do you look at the leaderboard? JORDAN SPIETH: Well, I'll see what the lead is and kind of see the trends and we'll have a good idea around what number it's going to have to be, but ultimately my goal tomorrow is to hit every fairway and hit the ball on the green and hopefully see some more putts go in on Sunday. The last few Sundays I've hit really good putts in contention, they just haven't fallen. Hopefully a couple lip in for us tomorrow. Q. You've accomplished so much already. Is winning what's left for you? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, that's it. That's about all that's‑‑ obviously if you win here, you get to go next week and play in a major championship, and the PGA Championship is coming up, and I'm borderline getting into that, too. It's not like if I don't get first, I don't care if I'm 30th. I want to get out there and play a solid round, and I'll be looking at the leaderboard. You want to know what you have to do out here, especially coming down the stretch, 16, 17, you need to know if you need to go for it or lay up. I mean, I'm going to have to really shoot 6‑, 7‑, 8‑under to have a chance tomorrow to have a chance. These guys are making a lot of birdies, so that's what I'm going to try and do. But yeah, I have to win to get in the Playoffs, and it would be nice to have those four events at the end of the year that everyone else has. Unfortunately I don't have them as of now, but there's still a few events for me left to try and get it. I'd love to have a chance tomorrow. Q. You cut your teeth at the Nelson professionally. Is there something about D.A. Weibring golf courses that agree with you? JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know. I like it in Dallas. Obviously there's a lot of family there. It's dear to my heart. Yeah, I would assume‑‑ I play a draw, and I feel like draws off the tees are needed on those two golf courses. Other than that, just the way this one plays in the middle of the summertime here, it's softer. You have to make a lot more birdies than you do in Dallas, but yeah, I enjoy both layouts. Q. Do you know D.A.? JORDAN SPIETH: I do, yeah, I've met him quite a few times. He's in Dallas. Great guy. Very nice guy. Same with Matt. Q. Did he encourage you to come attack this golf course? JORDAN SPIETH: I didn't talk to him about this tournament. I saw ‑‑ he came in and worked out the place I work out in Dallas, and we didn't talk about any of this golf course. Q. A lot of people question your leaving school and so forth, but has it worked out even better than you even anticipated? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, definitely sooner. There was a lot of questions. There was questions of myself. I had them, too. Obviously that's not the normal way to go about things. If you have an opportunity to get a degree from a top university, typically most people say you should. In my mind I was going to college in order to prepare myself for professional golf, and my career path just got sped up a couple years. That happens in some cases, and I was confident with my decision, and fortunately I was able to carry that confidence to the course, and honestly I'm very fortunate this year to play well at the perfect time in order to be able to play out here. That doesn't normally happen. There's a lot of talent. You see Patrick Rodgers out here, who I may be playing with tomorrow. He's an amateur who's my age and my grade, and obviously talented enough to compete out here. It's just a matter of when you're comfortable and if you can get the right breaks at the right times. Q. To see him doing what he's doing as an amateur and have success, you've got to smile at that? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, definitely. Pat and I were teammates on the Walker Cup team. We actually played alternate‑shot together. We're very close. I've played against him for a number of years. It would be awesome if I was paired with him tomorrow. Q. Does the FedExCup situation weigh on your mind, or is there anything‑‑ JORDAN SPIETH: Not really. It doesn't change the way I play my game whatsoever. I'm not trying to win strictly because of that, I'm trying to win because I'd like to win a golf tournament. I like to compete, and winning is fun. I haven't won a golf tournament in actually over a year, since the spring of college. I'm antsy, I guess. It's obviously a little more difficult, but I keep putting myself in position and hopefully I catch the same breaks I got today, and you never know. Q. A lot of guys have you kind of tabbed as the next big thing. What do you have to do to keep yourself grounded when the success is coming, and how do you handle the bumps that will come? JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I mean, just got to stick to my goals. My goals aren't to just get out here and compete and just be a top 100 player, 100 on the Money List. My goals are to become the best player in the world, and honestly I still have a very, very long way to go there. I've gotten‑‑ I haven't even really been in a playoff, let alone win a golf tournament out here. There's still a long way to go to accomplish that goal, and then from there there's more. Yeah, I mean, it's easy to stay grounded when you get to play against players out here, Zach Johnson, who seems like he can't shoot less than 6‑under. It's easy when you're around the best players in the world. I'm humbled every week by the guys' talent. Q. Anybody give you a hard time about the fact you're not yet 20 years old? JORDAN SPIETH: Not really. People give me a hard time because I can't go in the casino and stuff where I'm staying, but other than that, no, everyone is great. They're my peers, and I can be hanging out with a guy that's 45 and wouldn't really know it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|