DEAN & DELUCA Invitational
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Jordan Spieth
Quick Quotes
Q. You talked last week about playing some more boring rounds of golf. This was a round where it looked like you were able to do that.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, certainly, that was a solid round of golf given the conditions this afternoon. Extremely pleased with somewhat boring golf. I mean, even though we had 40 feet plus on a lot of holes, it was so tough to gauge the wind correctly and get the ball close to the hole. On a day like today, you're just really looking to hit greens in regulation, be as stress-free as possible, and it felt like we were out there.
Q. We're going to have conditions in the morning, you might have rain but certainly not the wind conditions that you had early in this round. Talk about your mindset for tomorrow.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, very excited. We played lift, clean and place today, and it was about as firm a golf course as I've seen this year, but you just never know with the weather in Texas in May. It was supposed to thunderstorm this afternoon, and the sun came out. I'm not sure what to expect for tomorrow. I'm sure it'll still be difficult conditions. I come into this week looking at these difficult conditions as a positive to try and get some more abstract shots, stop thinking about my swing and just play ball flights, and it worked today, so looking forward to the week.
Q. 3-under 69, great way to start out the tournament.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I'm very pleased with 3-under today. Tough conditions, felt like we kept ourselves -- when I had in-between numbers or I was in the rough attacking -- hitting approach shots, I felt like we kept it on the correct sides to keep it very stress free. I had a couple shorter length putts that I could have made, but I also made a couple mid-rangers. All in all, I think the score reflects about how played, and that was very solid this afternoon.
Q. Just your impressions of Colonial today with the rain?
JORDAN SPIETH: It was in great shape. I mean, with gusts up into the 20-mile-per-hour range or even more on a couple moments, it's very challenging because the greens are so small and the fairways are very difficult to hit. You have to work the ball a direction to hold a lot of these fairways, and if you're not in the fairway, good luck in the winds holding the greens. Got a couple good breaks today, but going to need to find the fairway a bit more to keep that kind of consistency and that boring golf alive.
Q. You got off to a really good start. Talk about the start.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. I hit a really good drive on 1 and found myself with no swing, which was a really tough break given it's a hard tee shot. When you feel like you hit a good one, you expect to be able to go for it in two. I didn't play a smart shot at all. It was just a bonehead move on the second shot, which I don't really know what we were thinking because I took a club that can reach both fairway bunkers instead of just punching it up and hitting a wedge. But a good putt sometimes makes up for a couple misses.
Yeah, and then I played No. 2 well, got a good break off the tee, got a decent lie in the right rough and hit a nice, solid putt, so we were rolling. Felt like I hit good putts all day, a couple misreads, but the good start certainly in these conditions took some stress off. You don't want to have to be making par saves to stay at even, 1-over, 2-over. It was nice to be a couple under early.
Q. Is a round like this more satisfying versus how you played last week at the Nelson?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I mean, this round I played much better than the 6-under the first round last week. That was a very, very difficult golf course this afternoon. I think Webb finished at 5-under; is that right? I mean, that's a fantastic round of golf. The way he played was better than the way anybody else played today, so hopefully we get out in the morning with some solid greens and maybe less wind and we can gain a few more shots.
Q. How do you feel with your driver right now? Is it just hard to get it in the fairway here?
JORDAN SPIETH: Well, yeah, exactly. No. 1, I pretty much hit the fairway, just got a tough bounce over to the left with that whipping wind. 3 was a good drive, just wind gusting up, and 5 is a tough fairway to hit. First few holes it's hard to find these fairways. But I felt like the swing was still there. I mean, I was still striking it nicely. I was hitting good approach shots. I wasn't very concerned with the missed fairways. I knew they'd come eventually, I just needed to play the right shots to wide it to the widest sections.
Q. Seems like you were able to use that approach from yesterday in terms of tough pins and stuff. How did that go for you?
JORDAN SPIETH: Great. Yeah, I'm able to create some more curve to hold winds or right them, which allows me to gain some club face control at impact, and I think last week when it was just so dead, when I didn't have my best stuff, I started a couple misses on either side. With this much wind, it forces you to hit a certain ball flight into the green, which is better for me, and I'm starting to get more and more comfortable with my swing.
Q. Do you enjoy the thinking part of this course?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yes, very much so. I think it's a very good golf course. A couple holes if the wind blows like today are a bit unfair because they're just so challenging to hold the fairway. But all in all, you know, they predict this kind of weather all the time, but it made it a fun challenge. I felt like anything under par this afternoon was a good solid round of golf. I think that's what it'll show if you look at the waves, and that happens, so we've just got to take advantage of the morning.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #166 at 2016-05-27 00:17:00 GMT
