DEAN & DELUCA Invitational
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Jordan Spieth
Quick Quotes
Q. Great birdie at the end. What did it feel like to finish a round like that?
JORDAN SPIETH: It was nice. I played really well today I thought. Hit some very solid shots. With gusty winds it's not going to end up where you think it's going to a lot of the time.
I felt like I missed some fairways by one to five yards today that made a complete difference in the way the hole played. You had to play so protective after that when the ball is the in rough here.
But it's a great finish. Kept me in the tournament. If I was a couple over, you know, in the back of my mind I would be wondering about the cut line.
I'll go out tomorrow early. Looks like it's going to be the same conditions the whole day tomorrow. Still going to be windy in the morning.
We'll go out and try and make a move on to the leaderboard. Few under would be a great score. That's about how I played today.
Pleased with the finish for sure.
Q. Maybe off the tee was there a particular wind, maybe left to right, that bothered you the most?
JORDAN SPIETH: No. Actually maybe even right to left should be easier for me. I am hitting the ball really straight with my driver when I play a draw. Just a very straight ball. Didn't want to line up down the right center of the fairway because I feel like I'm going to hit a draw and the wind is going to take it even more. Those are the fairways I miss to the right.
Left-right winds, those are really tough as a right-handed player, though kind of crosswinds down or into. Felt like I actually drove the ball well on those. The right-to-lefters I missed to the right quite a bit.
But I struck my irons beautifully. I made one mistake hitting an 8-iron out of the bunker on 15. I didn't need to hit an 8. It was actually a perfect club, but I just completely forgot the water was on the left side.
My eye was solely on getting it back there by the pin and continuing momentum. I had to carry the lip so it got up in the air higher than I wanted with more spin, and the wind just took it straight over.
In mid-air I'm like, Shoot, I completely forgot about the water. Which you can't be upset about. I'm zeroed in on the pin. Obviously you should know to favor one side or the other.
That cost me two shots there where it wasn't necessary. I could have played to the middle of the green and taken my 4 and it would've been a tremendous round at a couple under.
Q. (No microphone.)
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, we knew ahead of time we were going to get the kind of raw end of the deal this week. It happens. It evens out over time. It's a bit of a bummer when it happens.
Last year I was on the bad end of the draw this week by two and a half shots I think, and we won by three. It doesn't mean you can't come through. We saw two of our three leaders came out of the afternoon wave. If you're hitting the fairways out here, you're giving yourself some looks, they'll pour in.
Again, it was just really close. Yeah, the fact that I was really close to the fairways and if those balls had been in the fairway I would have been two, three shots lower, I definitely give some leeway to the score. Absolutely.
Again, I've got to be inside of five shots going into the weekend I think to have a chance on this golf course.
Q. Can you take us through your par save on 9 and your bogey on 10?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I thought I hit a good tee shot on 9. The wind was whipping. Supposed to be into off the right. When I hit -- I threw the grass up after I hit, and it was just blowing straight quartered off the left.
The difference in that, I mean, my ball would've been in the fairway versus 40 yards right. It really makes that much of a difference with the ball flight I was playing. It was a tough break off the tee. Wasn't a bad swing.
And then I didn't really have much over there, and I tried a shot that wasn't really a dangerous shot, just was a really difficult one, just to get it back in play anywhere.
It came down in the rough; played a smart one in the middle of the green where I could've forced something and made a big mistake. I got a read off Zach's putt, and at that point it's kind of luck for it to go in.
That was really nice after making a nice save on 8 and to shoot even on the front nine when I really should have shot a couple over. I saved it there. The back was a little bit of the opposite, where feel like I should have shot a few under par the way that I played, and I just -- you know, a bad break here or just a mental error caused us to even on both.
Q. (No microphone.)
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's tough. I knew that 16, 17, 18 all were birdie holes. I worked so hard to get under par for the day. I was telling Michael when we were over, Look, we can birdie 11. We'll get another opportunity. We can shoot under par on the round.
Sure enough, we birdie 11, I get the one to go on 13, and it felt great working my way back to 1-under when I was 2-over early and really could have been in trouble.
And then just to go to 1-over and then 2-over that fast was draining. Michael did a phenomenal job in the fairway on 17 of holding me back until we found a wind that we wanted to hit the club that we wanted. I wanted to hit one more, and he was like, Just wait for it to die down so you can swing aggressive with this one.
Sucked it in there close. Hit a good drive on 18, which sets up a nice wedge.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #179 at 2017-05-25 23:35:00 GMT
