DEAN & DELUCA Invitational
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Jordan Spieth
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: Jordan, we'll get started. Great playing today. I know you didn't quite finish the way you would have hoped, but you're right back up there one-shot lead heading into tomorrow.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, very pleased with the round. Felt like I struck the ball well, got off to a good start again and then short game really kept me in it in the middle of the round. So, my scrambling was kind of the key to the day today and hopefully hit some more fairways tomorrow and make those aggressive swings that I took advantage of when I did hit the fairways.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Start about the start of the back nine. Great up-and-down at 10 then obviously a chip in for birdie at 11. You stuck the iron a foot away at 12. I think that was the key to the round today wasn't it?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, the up-and-down on 10, that was one of the worst lies I've had in the rough in a long time. So that was -- I gave Michael a fist bump after the wedge shot and obviously a fist bump when I made the putt. That's probably a one in five up-and-down.
So I was extremely pleased. It's just matted down into the grain and it's just it just sits to where you got to take a full swing and hope that it comes out around the right distance.
So, 11 was fortunate. Not a great wedge, but a nice chip to make up for it.
Then I had the same number that I had on 11 on 12 into the pin and I made a more aggressive swing, a more confident swing and it showed.
So that was certainly key for the round and put good swings on throughout the rest of the round. It just, the 3-wood got a little off today, which kind of hurt me on the tee balls.
Q. To follow-up, what kind of momentum do you have now heading into tomorrow to get your first win in Texas?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, quite a bit. I feel really good about my game. All parts of it. I'm going to need to stick to the basics, keep my posture, very disciplined in my setup alignment and posture and make confident swings, knowing that we have hit great shots all week. And hopefully the putter stays hot as well. But, yeah, I'm confident about where everything's at.
Q. Ryan was talking about how he really wanted to get you out here in his home course and take you on Aggies, Longhorns, what are your thoughts about that?
JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know about the Aggies/Longhorns. But it will be a fun dynamic tomorrow. I play a lot of practice rounds with Ryan. Like a lot. Most of my practice rounds I play with Ryan. We have a fun game we play with our caddies. So, although they won't be taking part in the round tomorrow, they will certainly be involved. It will be cool because as a member, he'll have tons of support and we have had tons of support this week.
So, we expect a large following all rooting kind of for both of us to play well to try and finish with a lot of really, really good players right behind and what's tough about Colonial is, at least in the lead, is the first couple holes, 1 and 2, yield a lot of birdies. And so there's a good chance by the time I tee off, I'm not leading anymore. And that's sometimes difficult to then settle into a nice rhythm.
So, recognizing that is important and I think, yeah, but back to what you were saying, playing with Ryan's going to be a lot of fun. We played a lot of rounds for us so it's a familiar place for us.
Q. Is it more comfortable for you going into something like this with a guy like him?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, people have asked me, a common question is, who is your favorite player to play with. And I often say Webb Simpson. So Ryan and Webb are guys who I really love playing with. So either way it was going to be fun.
So I don't think, I wouldn't choose one or over the other, but, yeah, I think it's nice that it will be a familiar position for us. Just playing golf on a Sunday.
Q. So it's not Aggies/Longhorns, maybe Dallas versus Fort Worth a little bit?
JORDAN SPIETH: Let's not create any kind of rivalries, all right. Let's not create anything that shouldn't be there. This is -- it's not just us two and there's -- judging the history of this tournament and the history of the PGA TOUR, people who are within five, six shots often times can you come from anywhere to win with a solid round.
So, I'm not focused on any kind of one-on-one situation I'm just saying it will be a lot of fun being paired with Ryan. But you know, there's no, there's no battle between two people tomorrow. It's between a lot of people.
Q. You spoke recently about the motivation from seeing Jason and Rory both win recently. Is there any extra importance then no not only playing well tomorrow but ultimately winning the tournament?
JORDAN SPIETH: I'll be disappointed if I don't win tomorrow. Being in this position two weeks in a row, last Sunday was a tough day for me. Given the importance of the Byron Nelson to me personally. The Colonial is another place where I received a champion's exemption in 2013 and I was very fortunate at that time any exemption I was able to receive, so I owe a lot to this tournament, it's special to me as well.
That doesn't add any kind of pressure to it, when we stand on the first tee, it's who plays, who finishes 72 holes potentially more better than the other. But, yeah, it would be really, really cool to win here in DFW.
Q. You talked about your scrambling. No. 5, you had a lot of success on that hole all week long but had you to make a 22 foot putt there just to get that Horrible Horseshoe. Talk about that a little bit?
JORDAN SPIETH: You say I've had a lot of success on 5? I'm actually not sure what my career scoring is there, but that's one of my least favorite tee shots in the world.
Especially when I've been really playing a right to left shot off the tee this week, it's a comfortable shot, trying to get my swing a little more around me and that you can't really hit that shot there. So, to play that hole 1-under for the three rounds is actually shocking to me, given where my control is with the ball of the ball right now.
But today I wasn't upset at the tee shot, my second shot got a really bad break. It was one rotation from staying out that have bunker and being just a basic up-and-down. And all of a sudden these bunkers, right now they're not raked like they have, like they normally are, they have left them, given the weather and the restarts and not having time to put their machines through it like they do. And it makes it very tough because it all rolls down into the middle to the back side and it feels like concrete. So the last thing you want to do is bounce into it, which you never are really concerned about out of a bunker. So it was a really tough shot to hit. And I just didn't commit to getting that close to the ball. But it was a great putt, I got a nice read off of Webb and I hit it just an ounce softer and it was nice to keep momentum there.
THE MODERATOR: All right. Play well tomorrow.
JORDAN SPIETH: All right. Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #176 at 2016-05-28 23:21:00 GMT
