Spieth thunders to 4th
NORTON — Thunder roared overhead as Jordan Spieth and his two playing partners faced the last three holes in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship yesterday.
When he was done with his round and was meeting his media obligations, Spieth was briefly interrupted by the sound of the horn calling the players in from the course because of inclement weather that caused a delay of more than an hour.
The weather wasn’t the only thing Spieth beat at TPC Boston. In a round he called the best of his life, the 20-year-old shot a 9-underpar 62 to finish at 17-under for 72 holes.
He birdied holes 15 through 17 and then capped the day with a 24foot putt for eagle on 18. Spieth finished tied for fourth, 5 shots back of winner Henrik Stenson. Spieth came one stroke shy of the TPC course record and matched the best round of the weekend.
“It was actually a rough range session. I couldn’t really find anything from a mid-iron on. I would either start it right and go right or start it left and go left,” he said. “I’ve been working on some things in my swing this week. In a fourweek stretch, I’ve had three fourweek stretches this year, and each time the third and fourth [day] something gets off in my swing. I texted briefly early in the week with my instructor (Cameron McCormick) and sent a couple videos to him just to have a quick kind of look at them. And just went from there, just tried to feel it out. And luckily my driver was on this week.
“Today I just wanted to hit a lot of the greens. My goal before the round was to have a bogey-free round and to try and be stress-free. And for the most part, that’s what it was. I had one 3-putt, but other than that putts were falling early.”
After shooting a 4-under 32 on the front nine, Spieth shot par through the first five holes of the back before his hot streak. He might’ve gotten a jolt from the incoming weather system. The rookie and playing partners Phil Mickelson and Harris English committed to getting done in time.
“Honestly, playing a quicker pace plays into my favor, I think,” he said. “I enjoy playing fast and being the first off was the best scenario that we could’ve possibly had. The thunder doesn’t really affect what we’re doing. You just hope that the horn doesn’t blow in your backstroke.”
Spieth didn’t earn full-time PGA status until he won the John Deere Classic in July. Now he has a chance to win the FedEx Cup (he started the weekend ninth in the standings) and be a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup team.
“At the beginning of the year, I would’ve been happy to be playing in the Web.com playoffs right now and trying to earn my PGA Tour card,” Spieth said. “So all my goals have been exceeded.”