USA TODAY International Edition
Spieth’s plan facing Players involves patience
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – In his Players Championship debut in 2014, Jordan Spieth played the first 58 holes of the demanding Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass without a bogey and eventually finished in a tie for fourth in the PGA Tour’s flagship event.
“I almost won it, and so I just kind of assumed that it would come easy to me,” the three-time major champion said Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s start of the 45th Players Championship.
Oops. Nothing has come easy for Spieth on Pete Dye’s arduous creation since, as he hasn’t made the cut the past three years. After breaking par in each of his first three rounds, Spieth has broken par once in his past seven. Having reassessed his thoughts on the course, Spieth knows the layout is a puzzle he needs to reckon with instead of a pushover he can control.
“I kind of need to go in with a different game plan and mind-set and stick to it,” Spieth said. “I love this place. I love the golf course. But there are a lot of small areas to hit your tee shots, small areas to hit your second shots, and you’ve really got to think through the place and let it come to you.
“The room for error is just smaller, and that makes it more difficult if you get off a little bit and you try and force anything. And this is not a place to go out and try and force birdies, and I think that’s kind of where I’ve gone the last few years that’s gotten me in trouble. Kind of approach it from a more patient viewpoint this year.”
He could say the same of 2018. After a grueling 2017 in which he won three tournaments, including his third major in the British Open, Spieth took a lot of time off ahead of this year. But a December battle with mononucleosis, which left him bedridden for days and lingered for two weeks, hindered his preparation in the gym and on the golf course, and he’s been battling to catch up ever since.
The winner of 11 PGA Tour titles hasn’t won this year and has four top-10 finishes in 10 individual starts. His best shot to win came in the Masters when he closed with a 64 and finished third.
He also missed the cut with Ryan Palmer in the team event in the Zurich Classic in New Orleans in his last start, where Spieth hit shots into the water on the last two holes in the second round and they missed the cut by one shot.
“I was frustrated with that and took that to really start to work hard last week,” Spieth said. “We didn’t have great weather in Dallas last week. It stormed like three or four of the days, so got kind of a bit of rest and work. But coming in here, I kind of feel like I’m freewheeling.”
The Players is the first of four consecutive weeks Spieth will be on the road, as he’ll play the AT&T Byron Nelson, Fort Worth Invitational and The Memorial the next three weeks.
“I’ve got an opportunity in these four weeks to have a lot of fun playing golf and potentially give myself a chance to win,” Spieth said.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to here. I want to prove to myself that 2018 can be a really good season, and I’ve got a lot of time to do so.”