Jordan Spieth’s debut came with 1 ‘significant improvement,’ a key revelation

For Jordan Spieth, the 2025 season has been about laying the groundwork for what he hopes is a long and successful second stint in his professional career.

After undergoing wrist surgery following the 2024 season, Spieth took the long view entering the 2025 season. He wanted to try to make the 2025 Ryder Cup team — a goal he fell short of — but he really wanted to use the 2025 season as a starting point for his professional career. He needed to stay healthy, fix bad swing habits that had crept in, and lay the groundwork for the next version of Jordan Spieth.

That process was slow and uneventful. Spieth finished T4 in his second appearance back at the WM Phoenix Open and missed the title at the Genesis Invitational. He carded a T9 at the Cognizant Classic and finished 59th at The Players. In all, Spieth had top 10s in 19 events. He missed just two cuts but saw his season end after the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs in Memphis. That sent Spieth into the new season knowing he wouldn’t be exempt from all of the year’s Signature Events and would either have to play his own way or rely on the sponsor invitations he was sure to receive.

As Spieth grinds to rebuild his game in 2025, two areas in particular have let him down – approach and putting. Spieth lost 0.204 strokes per round last season, which ranked 138th on Tour. He lost 0.006 strokes on the green in each round, which put him at 101 with the flatstick. He putts 157 around the hole on his way from 175 to 200 yards. He is ranked 142nd from 150-175, 78th from 125-150 and 154th from 50-125.

In short, Spieth wasn’t hitting it close, and his putter wasn’t succeeding in his wedge game.

Spieth took a five-month break after his season ended and headed into this week’s Sony Open at Waialae Country Club looking to get his season off on the right foot at a course that suits his game.

With two rounds at Sony, Spieth’s game feels like he’s in a better place than the last time he stuck it out because he’s gained two shots approaching the first 36 holes.

“It’s my approach game, controlling shots with both irons and wedges,” Spieth said Friday after shooting a two-under 68. “My wedge shot feels a lot better than those – like today on the eighth hole. I got a foot off the hole and I was trying to putt it three feet past the hole. So I missed my putt by three feet from 121 yards and it was probably the best of all 121 yards. The 150 went my way.

“That’s a big improvement and that’s where most of the points come from.”

Spieth spent 2025 trying to work out the kinks in his swing to get back to the feeling he used to have when he was on the golf course. That work continued last season as he focused on getting his hands to do what they normally do to gain confidence when he tries to hit the shot that he had been unable to do a few years ago.

“I’m working on my hand,” Spieth said. “My hands haven’t been able to do what they did when I was at my best, and now they know it. It’s a combination of how it carries the club and where it hits the fairway. It’s one thing to do it in the driving range. It’s another thing to do it when you’re playing. It’s another thing to do it in a tournament game.

“Today was a lot better than last month as far as it goes, and I was able to focus outside. I think it’s going to be better from here.”

Granted there are only two rounds. Spieth knows how fickle golf can be, but coming back from a grueling early season has been great. Now, it’s all about stacking rounds and tournaments.

Spieth enters the weekend at Waialae at four under, five shots behind a group of co-leaders including Davis Riley and defending champion Nick Taylor. But on a course where you can go down, five strokes back entering the weekend is far from it.

But regardless of the weekend’s outcome at Waialae, the 2026 Sony Open is another building block in Spieth’s plan — not to rediscover what was, but to do something new with the tools he has now.

Now 32, Spieth hasn’t won since the 2022 RBC Heritage. His last victory came at the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale. Spieth is far from the player he once was. It can be frustrating when the magic your hands used just doesn’t appear – or at least appears very slowly.

Spieth knows he still has a lot of golf ahead of him. And while he’s changed from the golfer who took over the game 10 years ago, and the game and the competition have changed, that doesn’t mean what’s next for Jordan Spieth won’t be great either. But holding on to what isn’t is the way to ensure that the next 10 years have their magic dose. Spieth knows that what was once will not be again. But what follows can be just as rewarding.

“So I try to enjoy myself a lot,” Spieth said. “It’s been a terrible situation the last few years, and if I don’t enjoy myself out here—I mean, I know ten years from now I’m going to wish I had the last ten years.

“All in all, if you’re not enjoying yourself what are you doing here? All that together should really help.”