Pressure getting to uptight Spieth as he loses grip on greens
THE first time Jordan Spieth competed in the Players Championship in 2014 he went 59 holes before registering a bogey, on his way to finishing fourth.
On Friday, he missed his third successive halfway cut in the event, the only player in the world’s top 15 not to make it to the weekend.
Rory McIlroy was not doing too much better yesterday, four birdies mixing with three bogeys in a one-under 71 that left him one under overall and just outside the top 20. Graeme McDowell shot a 74, going in the water for a double bogey at the last and he lies one over.
Back to Friday and the likeable Texan left the premises saying his ball-striking was phenomenal, which is one way of describing statistics that showed him 80th in driving distance and 108th in driving accuracy but not one that makes any sense.
Like his record in the PGA Tour’s flagship event, Spieth began his professional career at an electrifying pace, winning majors back-to-back and being classed in the same bracket as Tiger Woods.
But there was never the wow factor present when watching McIlroy when the Irishman began, or Jon Rahm now. You always wondered what would happen when Spieth stopped making every 30-footer he looked at.
Following his collapse on the final day of the Masters last month for the second successive year and his record here in the so-called fifth major, perhaps we are finding out. He is, though, still in the world’s top five, which is some place to be at the age of just 23.
But it is going to be interesting to see if he can stay there when he is not in the same league as every other player in the top eight when it comes to driving. Everyone else is long from the tee, several are super-long and at least a couple, in Dustin Johnson and McIlroy, are superlong and unnervingly accurate. How can you take them on when you are 30 yards behind and invariably playing from the rough?
If truth be told, it would be good if Spieth could show there remains a different way to compete every week, as Luke Donald did when he reached the summit and stayed there for a year. But it is so much harder to be brilliant all the time on and around the greens than it is to demolish courses with length.
When he won the Masters and the US Open in 2015, we all marvelled at Spieth’s brilliant mind. Now it is Spieth who is looking enviously at the laidback, deceptively casual approach of Johnson.
During Thursday’s opening round, Spieth was so incensed at a lie he found in a bunker he took a photo on his smartphone to show to officials. This was a man feeling the pressure.
It showed again at the island green 17th hole on Friday, where Spieth needed to finish with two pars to make the cut. But his tee shot never came close to remaining on the putting surface, tumbling into the water for a ruinous double bogey.
At the last, with nothing to play for, he stood over a 30ft putt and casually knocked it for a birdie. He can still do it when he is playing freely, then.
Spieth has a couple of events now in his home state where he will look to regain some momentum before the US Open next month.
He is going to continue to win events, of course, and probably even the odd major. But regaining the world No1 spot? It is hard to see that happening without him figuring out something extraordinary with his driving.
As for those who remain in the Players Championship, Ian Poulter, who got a last-minute reprieve into the event, continued to make the most of his good fortune, laying just one off the lead after overnight leaders Louis Oosthuizen and Kyle Stanley both dropped two shots early on to fall back to the pack on a crowded leaderboard.