USA TODAY International Edition
SPIETH’S GOLF GAME STUCK IN NEUTRAL
Texan’s wedge play, putting have not been up to par
Later this year, the shelves of the cereal section of your local supermarket will be stacked with boxes of Wheaties featuring Jordan Spieth’s image.
Right now, the young Texan’s sterling short game could use a bowl of the Breakfast of Champions.
Ahead of Thursday’s start of the AT& T Byron Nelson and coming off a missed cut in last week’s Players Championship, the twotime major winner is searching for a spark to turn around a game that has been, he said, “in a bit of a lull” the last six weeks.
It hasn’t been for the lack of neglect or attention to detail. Sometimes, Spieth said, you just have to wait.
“I struck the ball beautifully this year and kind of ... I haven’t really figured out,” Spieth said at TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas. “Just been a little off on the greens.
“I really like the work that I’ve been consistently putting in and just has yet to kind of start firing like it has in the past.”
It’s not that Spieth, 23, has been a dud this season.
The world No. 6 won his ninth PGA Tour title in February at the AT& T Pebble Beach Pro- Am, has four other top- 10 finishes this year and was just two shots off the lead going into the final round of the Masters before a 75 dropped him into a tie for 11th place.
But for much of the year, Spieth — who has missed two of his last four cuts — has been searching for one part of his game or another to kick in.
“The problem this year so far has been my opening rounds. I just haven’t had it. I’ve been behind the 8 ball too many times,” said Spieth, who opened with a 73 in The Players to fall six back.
He also opened with a 75 in the Masters and lost his first match in the World Golf Championships- Dell Technologies Match Play.
By the time he figures out what’s wrong, it’s too late. Or his putting would let him down. Or his wedge play would remain off kilter.
“It’s just like I’m losing coin flips,” he said.
As was the case before the Players, Spieth said he feels great about the state of his game. He’s striking the ball as well as he ever has on the PGA Tour, he said, but his wedge play and putting have yet to kick into gear, which stifles his momentum. He said he just needs to see a few putts go into the hole, be it one round or in two consecutive tournaments, and his momentum and confidence could get on the same page. “It’s close,” he said. The tournament is close to Spieth’s home in Dallas and close to his heart. It is where Spieth introduced himself to the golf world by finishing in a tie for 16th when he was a junior in high school. The following year he tied for 32nd a month before he got his high school diploma. He holds his annual charity golf tournament on the course. Last year he played in the final group on the final day but shot 74 to fall into a tie for 18th.
His feel- good vibes were accentuated by this week’s announcement of the Wheaties box. Now he’s hoping to find the missing piece to his game before 4 million boxes of Wheaties depicting his image start appearing this fall.
The 2015 winner of the Masters, U. S. Open and FedExCup will be the latest golf star to be on a box of Wheaties, a list that includes Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods.
“You grow up seeing your favorite athletes on these boxes and used to walk down the aisle of the grocery store whenever my mom used to drag me along and always want to see who was on the cover,” Spieth said. “To actually be on one is a pretty special dream come true.”
As would a win near his hometown.