Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Spieth feels sharp as ’15 grows faint
SOUTHPORT, England — With a chance to close out the match, Jordan Spieth fired his second shot into the par-5 15th at Royal Birkdale and it never left the flag, bounding onto the green about 20 feet behind the hole.
His partner Tuesday was Justin Thomas, who watched the flight of the ball and said, “I like having him on my team when he’s playing like this.”
Everyone is on their own when the British Open begins Thursday, and Spieth is looking sharp enough to be listed as a co-favorite with Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world. Spieth is coming off his second victory of the year last month at the Travelers Championship. And when his putter is working — it really hasn’t been this year — he is regarded as a favorite at just about every tournament.
Still to be determined is how much he thrives on links courses such as Royal Birkdale.
What stands out is St. Andrews in 2015, when the 23-year-old Texan was going for the third leg of the Grand Slam and missed the playoff by one shot. Even so, he hasn’t finished higher than 30th in the other three British Opens he has played.
So much of his mystique is built around that 2015 season — the Masters and U.S. Open, five victories, the FedEx Cup. So many of the expectations of Spieth now are
measured against that season. Those are rare even for the greatest players, and it might be Spieth’s bad luck that it happened to him so early in his career.
He still wouldn’t trade it. Asked to measure his game now compared with two years ago, Spieth said his long game is better, but he hasn’t been making putts.
“I recognize that being five years in now … and five years doesn’t make me a veteran, but it helps me realize kind of how things go,” he said. “And last year I was pretty caught in 2015. This year I’m not. Hopefully, we can have another one or two like that. But if we keep on trying to improve each part of the game, stick to the process, then we’ll have the results we want.”
Tuesday brought more sunshine to the Lancashire Coast and only a light wind that came out of a different direction. The course is fast, and balls are bouncing high when landing, which is links golf at its best.