Spieth is back at Pebble Beach, ready to go
Eleven years ago, Jordan Spieth earned his first paycheck as a professional golfer. Last year, he took a risk on a golf course he wouldn't take again.
This week, Spieth is returning to Pebble Beach Golf Links, the location of the launch of his PGA Tour success and the location of his improbable shot on the eighth hole. It's quickly been anointed as one of golf's most iconic shots.
In the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Spieth hit his tee shot on the par 4 to about 155 yards to the pin, just past the hazard line and about 2 feet from rolling off a cliff and into Stillwater Cove. The golfer could have also stumbled off the cliff via the unsteady footing, but he played a 7-iron, instead of taking a one-shot penalty. His left foot was against the edge. After he hit, Spieth quickly retreated.
Spieth's second shot landed off the green, but he made par to finish with a bogey-free 5-under 31 front nine. He finished the round with seven birdies, an eagle on the sixth hole (from 3 feet) and no bogeys.“I think it was a stroke; I think I saved a stroke,” said Spieth. “Does the reward outweigh the risk? Not if you think the risk was dying. But I also, I felt I could whack it over the water with a 7-iron and get it up near the green.
“And I thought up near the green would be easier than hitting a 7-iron from 10 yards back. And, yeah, I think now knowing my son a lot better, he was really young at the time, I may not have hit that shot. Yeah, it's not advised. I'm glad I ended up making a 4. Because if I made a 5 it would have been one of the worse decisions I ever made. Instead, it was just a bad decision.”
In the final round, Spieth led by two shots after birdies on the 12th and 13th. But he clipped a tree on an approach shot on the 15th and hit another approach into a bunker on the 17th.
A brand ambassador for the tournament's title sponsor, Spieth is playing in the event for the 11th straight year and is among a half-dozen returning titlists.
Without long-time players such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Davis Love III, among others, Spieth, the 2017 winner, has assumed an elder statesman's role at the tournament. He'll turn age 30 in July.
“I still feel like one of the younger ones out here,” Spieth said Wednesday. “I don't know what the average age on the PGA Tour now, but I'm probably right smack dab in the middle of it. But I don't feel like I'm in a next stage at all. Maybe when I turn 30 that's the case. I don't feel a whole lot different from, call it five, six, seven years ago.”
The 2013 AT&T was Spieth's second pro event. He finished tied for 22nd, 11 shots behind Brandt Snedeker.“I had missed the cut in San Diego, which was my first professional start,” said Spieth. “I got an exemption last minute there. So this was on the docket because of AT&T and our relationship with them. I didn't represent them at the time either. But they worked hard to help give me that exemption.
“I remember, I think I made about a 4-footer on 18. I think it was for birdie. It was to finished like 20th. At that time you go in, the first thing you do is you, they have the pieces of paper that have FedExCup and money and you go look and you see how much money you're going to make, right? I was 19 years old, it was my first professional check made. So I remember that.”
Now a 13-time PGA Tour winner including three Majors, Spieth has six top-10 finishes in his AT&T tenure, including second last year and tied for third in 2021. He finished two shots behind first-time winner Tom Hoge last year and has only finished outside of the top-25 once (tied for 45th in 2019).
After 11 wins in his first five years on the PGA Tour, Spieth
ended a winless drought after 82 events and 1,351 days in April 2021 at the Valero Texas Open. He added his 13th career PGA title last season at the RBC Heritage one week after missing Masters cut for the first time.
“The first few years feel different because you're just starting out and something new happens each week,” said Spieth. “But since then I feel the same as I have before. I feel as healthy as I've felt in four, five years. I got sick pretty much every year from the end of 2017 until this last year over the winter break into the spring.
“I've been on top of it this year and been healthy. So I feel maybe younger than certain years. Which is really nice. Especially, like I said, as I head into a pretty heavy stretch coming up through the Masters through Hilton Head.”
The AT&T will be Spieth's fourth PGA Tour event this season and 241st career start. He finished tied for 52nd at the CJ Cup last October, tied for 13th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in early January and missed the cut two weeks ago at the Sony Open.
Besides his 13 titles, Spieth has 17 second-place, nine third-place finishes and career earnings of more than $53 million. Winning a second AT&T title would be Spieth's second time winning the same tournament twice. He claimed the John Deer Classic in 2013 and 2015. He's been the world's top-ranked golfer for 26 weeks but since 2016.
“Runner-ups are no fun,” said Spieth. “You can obviously, you gain momentum out of playing well, but finishing second doesn't go, does not go in that win column and that win column is what kind of solidifies legacies. So you got to close 'em out when you get close and I'm looking forward to trying to have that opportunity this week.”