Spieth past his recent struggles

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jordan Spieth’s success at the 2018 Masters will depend on how he feels — not in his stomach or his head, but in his hands.

“This place brings out the feel aspect of my game, which is the better side of me on the golf course,” Spieth explained after a practice round Wednesday at Augusta National. “You have a lot of uneven lies and very slopey greens and so you have to play a lot off of feel and what that lie gives you. I think that’s helped me settle in and not overthink things out here and get into a nice groove.”

Spieth always seems to be in a nice groove at the Masters. This is his fifth appearance. He tied for second in 2014, won in 2015 after leading all four rounds and tied for second in 2016 after leading for the first three rounds. He wound up tied for 11th last year after shooting a 75 in the final round.

Spieth said he feels better about his game coming into this week than he did in 2014 or 2016, when he missed the cut the previous week at the Houston Open. He f inished third at Houston last week, shooting 66 in the final round.

“I kind of pretended I was tied for the lead even though I figured I was a stroke or two back,” Spieth said. “I kind of wanted that ‘ you need to make this’ feeling, and started to roll some putts in under the gun. I feel like last week was a tremendous stepping stone in the right direction.”

Given hi s e a rly s uccess winning the 2015 Masters, the 2015 U.S. Open, and the 2017 British Open, Spieth admitted he lost patience after managing just one top-10 finish over his seven previous events before Houston.

“I made big strides in the last two weeks to get from kind of a panic place to a very calm, collected and confident place,” Spieth said. “It’s difficult to do in two weeks. Sometimes it takes a year. I feel like I’ve been able to speed that process up a lot over the last couple of weeks.”

It’s all about the feel, especially at Augusta National.

“I find myself not worrying about the mechanics, but instead making sure that you’re leaving your next putt where it needs to be,” Spieth said. “If the putt goes in, that’s great. If it doesn’t, you walk to the next hole and wait for your opportunities.”