Jordan Spieth has found his ‘weapon’ but there is work to be done before the Masters
When Jordan Spieth was at the peak of his power, it seemed like every putt he was watching was going in. Whether it was a 50-foot putt to win the 2015 Valspar, a 55-foot eagle at the 2017 Open Championship or a 25-foot eagle at the 2015 US Open, when Spieth was cooking, he was a flat-out wizard.
Per Data Golf, Spieth had two or more shots on the green in 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2019, he averaged 2.9 shots on the green. The PGA Tour rating, per Data Golf, is almost zero. But after the 2019 season, Spieth’s putting began to go in a different direction. According to PGA Tour statistics, Spieth is ranked second in putting during the 2018-19 season. Over the next six seasons, he ranked 105th, 33rd, 155th, 79th, 101st and 65th. The three-time winner has dealt with a wrist injury that has affected his swing and has worked to eliminate “bad habits” in his putting that made him less reliable on short putts and allowed him to make a trademark splash on the greens.
The putter used to be an integral part of what made Spieth Spieth, back when he was a young star taking the game by storm. Now 32, Spieth believes he has recaptured the magic that once captivated everyone. He started in Spieth’s eyes. He’s always putts well when he watches the hole, and two weeks ago at Pebble Beach and Riviera, Spieth found that field again, and it helped him take 5.8 shots on the green at Pebble and 6.1 at this week’s Genesis, where he finished tied for 12th. That includes 113 putt feet made in Round 2 and 97 in the final round.
“When I look at my position, like looking up, looking at the pit, my position seems to be the weapon I found, which is really good because I feel strong whether it’s broken or straight, or anything short.
“I putt really well inside 10 meters, which I struggled with in Riviera especially, not everyone. It would be hard for me to believe that there is anyone better
within 10 feet this week, and that was big because those were par saves, those were second putts, things that keep the momentum going, keep the scorecards clean. And I made a few out of 10, which helped kind of in the second and fourth rounds.”
Spieth opened his season at Sony in Hawaii, where he ranked 35th in the field in putting. He returned to Dallas and worked with his coach, Cameron McCormick, to adjust his setup. Spieth lost 1.215 strokes on the green during a missed cut at Waste Management, but he found his old green feel two weeks ago on the West Coast, and he believes the good vibes he has with the flatstick will bleed into the rest of his game as he heads toward the Florida Swing and the Masters.
“It’s a big deal,” Spieth said. “I mean, basically, you start as close to the hole as you can, and everything that feels comfortable keeps moving forward and forward in the long game.”
Spieth’s swing is not where he would like it to be. He took a lot of time off during the offseason and used the first four seasons of his season to get a feel for what he needs to hone in his swing. With the Masters less than 50 days away, Spieth has a good understanding of the work that needs to be done to match his entire game with his rediscovered “weapon.”
“But overall, I want to tighten it up a little bit,” Spieth said after losing 2.4 shots at Riviera. “And playing the iron, I felt like my short game, wedges and that kind of stuff, and I made a big step, it was kind of controlling the C and putting the A. But I know what I have to do and I feel like it’s going to get better.”
After three weeks on the West Coast, Spieth will return to Dallas for a week to work on getting his swing back. But he’s leaving California with something he’s been looking for, and it’s taking him to a friendly neighborhood — ending a course that brings out the best in him — feeling like Jordan Spieth is close to finding the Jordan Spieth of old.
“I feel very confident. I like the stretch coming,” Spieth said.
“I feel like I have some momentum.”
