A helping hand
Spieth overcomes start thanks to caddie’s advice
Jordan Spieth had been here before, at the first FedEx Cup playoff event, last year’s Barclays, about to flame out and fail to make it to the weekend. His second-round at Bethpage Black had barely begun Friday and yet his tournament could have been over. Spieth double-bogeyed his first hole, No. 10, to tumble to 2-over — right on the cut line at the time. Spieth looked agitated and looked as if he were going to record his second consecutive missed cut at The Barclays. That, however, is when his caddie, Michael Greller, stepped in to make sure history did not repeat itself. Spieth had shot an even-par 71 in Thursday’s opening round and, after the opening double bogey, was hardly where he wanted to be as he walked to the 11th tee. But, thanks in large part to Greller, Spieth is in the hunt (four shots off the lead) entering the weekend at 4-under. Spieth rallied from the openinghole debacle — shooting a 4-under 67 — but it would take some time before he got any positive reinforcement. He didn’t birdie a hole until the 18th hole, his ninth of the day. From there, Spieth’s round took off on the front nine, on which he shot a 5-under 31 with three birdies and an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole.
When it was over, Spieth looked back at a psychological boost he received from Greller after the double bogey, when his approach shot ended up in an impossible spot near the lip of a greenside bunker and he was forced to chop out and still didn’t advance the ball to the green.
“It’s moments like 11 tee box where I really credit Michael a lot for stepping in there and being a real positive voice,’’ Spieth said.
This, according to Spieth, was Greller’s message: “You got really screwed on that shot. You did exactly what we wanted to do on the second shot on 10. Let’s find the fairway here, get into rhythm and pretend that didn’t happen. Let’s get two birdies before the turn.’’
“Re-setting a goal there [was] really key for me to get my mind away from what happened and look forward,’’ Spieth said.
“But whatever it was on 17, I started smiling going to 18 and that was the difference-maker.’’
The happier Spieth made up six shots on his final 10 holes and is now a big player for the weekend.
“It’s such a tough golf course,’’ Spieth said. “It’s rare when we play tournaments on courses this challenging. Normally they are majors. But 4-under makes up a lot of ground. I was 2-over and on the cut line, having to play the rest of the back nine. At that point, I’m thinking, ‘Let’s go ahead and try to get to even for the tournament.’ But we started getting some momentum.’’