Spieth avoids Colonial cut scare
Jordan Spieth normally doesn’t concern himself with the cut line in the middle of a round. Unless the Dallas native is in danger of staying home on consecutive weekends in what amount to his hometown events.
Spieth recovered from a bad start by going 5 under over his final 13 holes at the Colonial on Friday, and his 2-under 68 put the defending champion at 2-under 138, four shots behind second-round leaders Webb Simpson, Kevin Kisner, Danny Lee and Scott Piercy.
“When your back’s against the wall and you feel the nerves kick up because you’ve got to do something, and you’re not going to be able to play both weekends in town,” said Spieth , coming off missed cuts in The Players Championship and AT&T Byron Nelson. “That would have been really, really tough for me to swallow if I missed the cut. And it was in my head.”
Lee birdied the last hole for a 64, the low round of the tournament on a hot and windy day. Kisner also had a birdie on his final hole, the ninth, for a second straight 67. Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, and Piercy each shot 66 to join the group at 6-under 134.
Masters champion Sergio Garcia (66) and fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm (69), who played in the same group, were at 5 under along with England’s Paul Casey (66) and Sean O’Hair (68).
Phil Mickelson didn’t have a birdie while shooting a 75 that left him at 2 over, three shots clear of the cut in his first Colonial since the two-time champ missed the cut in 2010.
Adam Hadwin (71), Nick Taylor (72), both from Abbotsford, B.C., and David Hearn (70) of Brantford, Ont., are the low Canadians tied for 45th at 2-over par. Graham DeLaet (74) of Weyburn, Sask., is tied for 61st at 3 over.
Jamie Sadlowski (77) of St. Paul, Alta., and Mackenzie Hughes (77) of Dundas, Ont., both missed the cut.
Spieth said the key to the recovery was a short bogey putt at 14, his fifth hole, that dropped him to 3 over after he opened with a par 70. The 23-year-old broke from his recent routine by seeking caddy Michael Greller’s input on the 4-footer.
“He said, ‘Hit this one with confidence and walk it in,’” Spieth said about his third bogey in the first five holes. “I stepped and walked it in. I think it was kind of shocking because it was a bogey putt to go 3 over. No one really walks those in. But it was exactly what I needed.”
Spieth immediately followed with a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 15, then had four birdies in the first five holes of Colonial’s front nine. That included two birdies on the “Horrible Horseshoe” of holes 3-5.
The 2015 Masters and U.S. Open champion had no bogeys over the final 13 holes after seven bogeys and a double bogey among his first 23, which offset six birdies in his opening round.
“I played one through five in 4 under. I don’t think I’ve ever done 2 under on those holes,” Spieth said. “I felt really good about the way that we played those last 14 holes, about as solid as the entire year.”
Simpson made a 7-footer at the par-3 16th, then put his approach at 17 just inside 3 feet for a birdie that tied Casey. Third at Colonial last year, Simpson had missed the cut at Colonial his only two other times in 2009-10.