Spieth needs to stick to the basics
‘Minor slump’ has American trying to simplify putting process at Pebble Beach
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Jordan Spieth is trying to get back to the point where he stops thinking when he leans over a putt and the AT&T National Pro-Am might provide the ideal environment for him.
Sure, it helps Spieth is the defending champion. He seized control by taking only 10 putts on the back nine in the third round at Pebble Beach to build a six-shot lead and cruised home from there. He also has the right attitude for the poa annua greens that get plenty of footprints. He worries only about the right speed and if the putts happen to bounce into the hole, then great.
The real advantage might be the other pro in his group. His partner for the fourth straight year, Dustin Johnson, rarely thinks at all.
“He sees a light pole out there and he just hits it at the light pole and he normally hits the light pole,” Spieth said Wednesday. “And I’m out there going, ‘OK, I’m going to work a draw there because if I miss it right, it’s in a better spot.’”
Of all the issues Spieth should battle, putting would seem to be the least of his worries. He still doesn’t consider it a big concern.
Over time, typical of most players, the way he sets up over a putt has gotten a little out of sync. He found he was hitting putts into the ground with his hands more forward than usual, which he said was opposite from his natural tendency that dates to when he was a junior.
“I just kind of got into a place that I hadn’t been before and I’ve just got to get back into a comfortable setup position and then everything will fall through from there,” he said. “The idea is just to stop thinking and just putt and not having to worry about things.”
The proof is more in the statistics than the results.
Spieth said all week at least year’s British Open he wasn’t comfortable with his putting and while it showed early in the final round when he lost a three-shot lead, he managed to deliver big moments down the stretch to win.
He also had a stretch late last season of seven consecutive top-10 finishes.
But going into Pebble Beach, he ranks 195th in the key putting statistic out of 206 players. So there is work to do.
What’s not lacking is his self-belief. “I still believe that most of the guys
... you ask them who do they want putting on your team in a Ryder Cup and I believe they would say my name,” Spieth said. “So I have no doubt in my abilities. Just going through a minor slump that is setup related.”
Spieth is part of a strong field at Pebble Beach that features one prominent newcomer in Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy, finally feeling healthy, has embarked on an ambitious schedule ahead of the Masters. He already had two chances to win on the European Tour. Pebble Beach is the start
of a stretch in which the four-time major champion plans to play six times in the next seven weeks.
He knows the routine at Pebble Beach, having played seven times in the Dunhill Links on the European Tour. The biggest difference between the two — excluding the magnificent weather for the week — is how he feels about his game and his outlook.
“I feel like it’s the start of something and not the end of something,” McIlroy said. “I was just sort of ready to call it quits for the year after the Dunhill. With how dejected
and wanting to get away from it I was then to how rejuvenated and optimistic I am now, it feels a lot different that way.”
Johnson has a history at Pebble Beach, too, most of it good — in February, anyway.
He won in 2009 when rain wiped out the final round. He won the following year by getting up-and-down from the bunker on the 18th hole for a one-shot victory.
Johnson also had a three-shot lead that summer in the U.S. Open, only to lose it all with a triple-bogey on the second hole. He shot 82 that day.