Spieth in mini-slump heading into U.S. Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Lots of folks have become accustomed to seeing Jordan Spieth’s name atop leaderboards, particularly at golf’s majors. So has Spieth.

Yet since winning the British Open last July, Spieth (pictured) barely has been a factor on the weekends. He believed third-place finishes in Houston and at the Masters had indicated a turnaround heading into this week’s U.S. Open. But since Augusta, his best showing in five tournaments is a tie for 21 stat the Byron Nelson, and he twice missed cuts, including most recently at the Memorial.

Not quite the stuff that rocketed S pie th to the top of golf, with Masters and U.S. Open wins in 2015, and his third major last summer at Royal Birkdale. “Yeah, I think my patience has been tested, just not going into Saturday or Sunday with a legitimate chance to win but maybe once,” Spieth said Tuesday at Shinnecock Hills. “Just the limited number compared to previous years of chances I’ve had on the weekends has been frustrating.”

Spieth, 24, always has been mature as a competitor and person. When he went after the career Grand Slam for the first time last year at the PGA Championship, he wound up 10 shots back. No one contemplated he wouldn’t have won another PGA Tour title since, missing two cuts before the Masters and two more after.

While exasperated, Spieth, as always, believes he is close to the

way out of this mini-slump — for him, at least.

“Over the last, since probably in between Austin (a first-round elimination by Patrick Reed in match play) and Houston was a really big weekend for me of settling down and getting back on the right track with things,” he said. “And recognizing that it’s a long career, and, you know, results aren’t going to come by wanting them to come. They’re going to come by being obsessed with the process, getting back to the basics, being an athlete, figuring out within the swing, the intricacies of the game.”