SPIETH’S WAY
Jordan shoots down critics who said he should have come to St. Andrews earlier
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — They’re telling him he has gone about this all wrong. They’re telling him he can’t possibly learn the Old Course in so little time, let alone with the pressure that history is forcing upon him. But Jordan Spieth doesn’t care. If he’s going to win the third leg of the Grand Slam at the British Open this week, he’s going to do it his way. That meant not coming over early and instead honoring a commitment to the John Deere Classic — and winning it.
“The whole point was to try and feel pressure over the weekend and try and perform my best, see what tendencies I got into that we could adjust for major championship pressure, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Spieth, who has never played the Old Course in competition. “That was the game plan. I’m happy that it worked out. We came out with a win, which is even better. No, I don’t necessarily think there’s any advantages to arriving late. I think coming over earlier certainly could have helped. I just liked the fact that I could go somewhere where I could play hard and possibly win a PGA Tour event in preparation.”
“Game plan” is the operative word. Even Tiger Woods made note of that the other day, that Spieth has everything figured out ahead of time. It’s worked twice so far this year so why not again? Woods made several good points about how much there is to learn, about where to hit it when the wind changes, what bunkers
can be reached, what angles should be taken.
“You can see the golf course on a simulator (as Spieth has done) and it’s fantastic. I’ve seen it,” Woods said. “But playing in the different winds and having to hit the different shots, shaping shots completely differently from one day to the next on the same hole, it does help seeing the golf course under different winds.”
But here’s why that doesn’t matter as much with Spieth. He doesn’t make up his shots tee to green. He makes them up around and on the greens with a superb short game. St. Andrews is all about long putts because it’s so hard to get the ball close to the holes here. And Spieth is the best long putter in the world.
Woods also said that playing practice rounds with someone experienced with the course is very helpful, but Spieth didn’t do that. And when Spieth saw Woods briefly on the 16th hole Wednesday, he and Tiger didn’t talk much golf.
“I would trust Tiger’s point of view probably more than mine,” Spieth said. “He has plenty more experience doing this, but I’ve seen a tendency for us to sometimes overanalyze, and so we’ve been trying to just dissect it on our own with (swing coach) Cameron (McCormick) and me and (caddie) Michael (Greller).”
In Spieth’s mind, “simpler is better,” he said.
“Go off of the same feels we’ve had, just try and execute fairway, green, and get into a rhythm,” he explained. “I think there will be certain points in this tournament where I’ll hit it in spots that I wish I knew were better spots to hit to, but that’ll probably happen for everybody. Hopefully I can make up for it.”
Just as he makes up for a not-so-perfect swing and not-so-long distance. He just T knows how to get the ball in the hole. hat’s why, if Spieth gets himself in contention again, it won’t matter how well he knows the course. Nor should it matter what’s at stake.
“I’m sure embracing that opportunity, but by the time I start on Thursday, it won’t be in my head,” he said. “It’ll be about how can I bring this Open Championship down to just another event, get out there and try and get myself into contention.”
That hasn’t been a problem so far.