DEAN & DELUCA Invitational
Friday, May 27, 2016
Jordan Spieth
Quick Quotes
Q. Jordan, let's talk about today. You drove it really well. You doubled fairways hit in the first round. I felt like that set you up for what was really a good ball-striking day.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, certainly my first hole today, I hit two really good -- I had two really solid swings. The greens were up, I think, two feet from yesterday, and it just took me a little while to adjust, as you could see on the first four holes or so, but once we made that adjustment, a little better on the greens, and yeah, it was set up by the fairways hit. I was driving the ball well yesterday. I feel very comfortable over the ball this week. I felt like we put in some good work from Sunday to Thursday. They just didn't find the fairways yesterday in those heavy winds. Today a little more gettable conditions and softer fairways, and I was able to hold them.
Q. We're watching the NBA Playoffs; home-court advantage is huge. Do you have it here in Texas? Don't you feel it every hole? Seems to me like it's a distinctive advantage.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's really nice. Last week and this week, I can't thank the DFW area and I guess my fans enough for coming out and supporting here and making me really feel like I'm home, like I know I am. But it is nice coming to a track like Colonial Country Club here, a course that everyone really seems to love. I love it, and to have the fans on my side, as well, makes it a really special week.
Q. You hit a lot of fairways today. How much did that set up your game? And obviously your green percentage was higher, too.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, to be honest, the course is pretty gettable today. Yesterday was a really tough day. I played a better round of golf yesterday in my mind than I did today. I scored better given the conditions. But yeah, I mean, I feel really, really good over the ball right now. I got a little loose at the end of the round today. Fortunately still kept those on the green. My putting is coming around. Once I adjusted to the speed after a couple of kind of sloppy three-putts, really made the most of the round today.
Q. What was the stress level like for you during today's round relative to yesterday where you said you were pretty stress-free?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, stress-free again. I mean, I think we sit -- I think I hit 18 greens today. People were talking about the fairways. I think I hit -- at No. 18 I was on the fringe, and No. 3 I think I was on the fringe, but those are -- they're putts. I mean, that's good ball-striking as statistically anybody can do.
Yeah, that's very stress-free. Those first putts, the ones I ran by anywhere from three to seven feet today, those don't make you feel very good, and it doesn't really give you much of a chance to make that first putt when the speed is off, but man, they were a different speed today. I mean, they really were. They were two feet faster, and it was hard to tell until you hit a few putts actually on the golf course.
Luckily in those first four holes I had two short birdie putts, as well, where the speed didn't make much of a difference. We adjusted, and all in all, it was a fantastic back nine that we played. 1 through 5, if you play them 1-under, you're going to be up there with the leaders because the rest of the course you can kind of really get around and have some chances. Playing 4-under today was awesome.
Q. You had that stretch of four out of five birdies. Was there a point in the round where you really started to feel locked in with your swing?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. I felt locked in from the driving range on. It was a great range session today, first hole, put a good swing on it, second hole, played the hole nicely, you know, and I think, yeah, around that stretch, around No. 1, it was a nice putt I hit on No. 1 because if I don't make birdie there, all of a sudden I've had a few good looks in a row that I didn't capitalize on, including just having 3-iron into the hole and making par, so that was a big putt for me to kind of get my confidence up, line it up on that right edge and trust it, and I was able to trust the next few putts I hit.
Q. Did it surprise you after the weather overnight --
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, for sure, and they don't feel that fast because they're soft. When you're walking on them, especially -- we were all well aware of the storms. They were nasty. There was a lot of rain that fell. When you're walking on the greens, especially that first -- No. 10, that first hole, I hit the putt, and I thought it was maybe this far away from the hole. All of a sudden I'm six-and-a-half feet by. So it was very surprising, but it's good. It's amazing that they can be that pure, that they can be soft but still that fast.
Q. Talk about having home-field advantage of sorts --
JORDAN SPIETH: I think you guys talked about that.
Q. But are you able to maybe capitalize on that more this week because there aren't all those other things that you have to do like you did at AT&T?
JORDAN SPIETH: I really didn't have much of anything for AT&T. I just went and did kind of a meet-and-greet kind of thing where I'm with people that I have a good relationship with. No, I don't think there's any more of an advantage here, but last week -- I think both weeks it's really nice to have this many family and friends. I see a lot of junior golfers that I see here and there at clubs in the area and people sporting, kids sporting the Under Armour gear and yelling "go Jordan" from the side. It's really cool. We see that in other events, but you see more of it here, and I think it's awesome.
Q. How would you assess your comfort level with your swing and your game going into the weekend this weekend versus last weekend?
JORDAN SPIETH: Much better, yeah. I'd say it's up there close to if I want to have it 100 percent trust by major time, it's creeping up. Big step up from last week. It's getting close.
Q. 16 you got stuck out on that bank. Is that one of those putts where you just give it a tap and let it roll?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I didn't really know what to do there. I would have chipped it had I had a flat lie because the wind was into us so I could have put some spin on a chip with soft greens and actually gotten that thing pretty close to the hole, but it was already on the downslope, which was amazing to me that it stopped where it did, because if it had just moved ever so slightly more, it would have had a chance to go in, and if not, it would have been below the hole. I didn't know what to do. I was surprised my 9-iron went that far. I thought it would be in the bunker, which isn't too bad. It went about 172 yards or something in the air, and I played for right-to-left wind, but we had a little bit of flipping today. I just caught it on the wrong side. Yeah, that's just one of the places out here you just can't be.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #166 at 2016-05-27 23:46:00 GMT
