Spieth settles in for title defense in Hawaii
As the countdown to 2016 entered its final stages and Jordan Spieth started gearing up for the new year, his thoughts often turned to Hawaii.
Knowing he would begin 2017 in the Aloha State with defense of his title in the SBS Tournament of Champions on the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui, Spieth foresaw whale watching, snorkeling, fishing, sightseeing and just plain relaxing with friends and family.
He also had his eye on some iron.
“It’s the scoring irons,” Spieth, 23, said when asked if he would emphasize his practice on a particular part of his game heading into 2017. “That’s where I was pretty solid in 2015, and then that was one area of the game that took a little bit of a hit this past season. I just wasn’t as good with my wedge, 9-, 8-, 7-iron, and especially on kind of shorter par-3s.”
Spieth shot 1-under-par 72 in the first round Thursday.
Jimmy Walker took the lead with a 65.
After his historic five-win, two-major season in 2015 when he came close to winning the Grand Slam, Spieth didn’t win a major but captured three more titles worldwide in 2016 as he dropped from world No. 1 to No. 5.
His “scoring irons” were part of the reason for the slight decline, as he fell from 22nd in 2015 to 47th in strokes gained from 125 to 150 yards and from 34th to 101st from 150 to 175 yards.
One short par-3 failure stuck out — the 155-yard 12th at Augusta National. Spieth was three shots clear of the field in the final round of the 2016 Masters when his tee shot with a 9-iron wound up in Rae’s Creek. His penalty shot found water again, and Spieth made a quadruplebogey 7 and fell short in becoming just the fourth player to win the Masters in back-to-back years.
But it seems Spieth has already improved with his scoring irons.
In December, Spieth returned to Augusta National for the first time since the Masters. As he approached the 12th, he said to his playing partners, “Guys, we have some demons to get rid of here. I’d appreciate if y’all stood to the side of the tee box while I do my work here.”
Spieth then knocked an 8-iron to 15 feet and made the putt.
“I was walking around with my hands up, like, ‘Demons gone,’ ” Spieth said.
The next day he knocked a 9iron to 3 feet on the 12th and made another birdie.
Now he’s back at another one of his favorite places.
Despite the aesthetic distrac- tions, Spieth has had his game in tiptop shape here.
In his first trip to Plantation, Spieth finished second in the 2015 Tournament of Champions.
Last year he won by eight shots and became just the second player in Tour history to finish 30 under or better for 72 holes.
But the rousing first start of the year led to a long year, one during which Spieth was expected to match 2015.
Despite his victories at Kapalua, Colonial and the Australian Open, being a key member of the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team, plus notching 11 top-10 finishes in 24 starts, many thought Spieth had a down year.
And that did funny things to Spieth’s head.
“I was happy when the ball touched down and 2017 started. It was still a great year in 2016, but I learned a lot from the highs and lows, and ... I think I can use that to my advantage this year and on,” Spieth said.
The biggest thing he learned was to take a long-term look at things.
“If last year is a down year for us, we’re in really good shape long term when you start compiling the numbers,” Spieth said. “It makes me think a lot more positive about last season and my career going forward, just looking at it from a more elongated perspective.”
“I was happy when the ball touched down and 2017 started.” Jordan Spieth, on starting fresh in Hawaii