Jordan Spieth Says No Letup in His Game for 2016

Jordan Spieth is coming into Kapalua on the top of the OWGR and looking to get better!

Jordan Spieth is aware that everyone will be looking at him through the lens of last year’s performance and that the expectations of the golfing public will be high. He said it was like the situation Rory McIlroy was in during 2013 after winning a major in 2012. He could also have said like McIlroy’s 2015 after winning two majors in 2014.

But Spieth’s thinking is different as he explained before the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

“I’m not even thinking of it as a new year,” he said. “I’m just thinking of we had a three-week break and we’re just continuing to hopefully stay at the same level.”

While he wouldn’t say precisely what his goals are the 2016 because he likes to keep that in the team, he did say mainly that he needs more victories and more chances in the majors.

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“If I can get there at least a couple times this year again, that means that our plan building up to the majors is working, continuing to work, and then it comes down to each individual event, being able to close them out,” he explained. “I’ve been close a lot and closed out a little, and you’ve got to have the breaks go your way, but closing it out is something that’s a different mental edge than I really knew the last couple years prior to the 2015 season.”

The strategic part of the game is what Spieth has become known for in his short career.

“It’s an ongoing thing, and honestly probably should sit down and talk about that more than we do,” he added. “We just kind of assume that it’s a strength because we believe it’s a strength, but your strengths can still improve, especially you can’t ever get too strong mentally in this game.”

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Five victories, two majors, youngest player to ever win the FedExCup, Player of the Year honors. Those are just some of the wonderful achievements by Jordan Spieth in 2015. And surprisingly he felt badly that he wasn’t in Hawaii last January.

“Last year I didn’t start until Phoenix, and it was tough to watch my peers play this tournament without being able to be here when I felt, coming off the end of 2014, I felt so strong,” Spieth said. He had won the Australian Open and Tiger Woods’ tournament at the end of 2014.

Call it pro golfer trophy envy if you will. But after winning at the Valspar in 2015, he knew he was in at Hyundai again.

“After Tampa, when we had that second PGA TOUR win, I think I said it in the interview thereafter, maybe on live TV, that I was excited because we were coming here,” he recalled. “What a beautiful place it is. Great way to start the season.”

He still recalls some putts that would have allowed him to tie for the lead with Zach Johnson the year he finished second.

“Two of the holes, 14 and 16, I had pretty makeable birdie putts that would have got me back to tied for the lead and I could have birdied for the tie, eagled for the win, instead of having eagled for the tie,” he said as though it was yesterday. “Had a chance coming down the stretch, and I’d like to kind of avenge that.”

During the three-week break between the Hero World Challenge and Hyundai, Spieth and Cameron McCormick, his coach, have reviewed his stats for last year to see where they could improve Spieth’s game.

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“We went over and figured out for me that, specifically, my wedge play needs to get better, proximity to the hole and up-and-down percentage, from really 60 to 140 yards or so,” he said. “We got reports from Mark Brody on all the strokes gained from every category, Cameron did, and he narrows it down and he asks questions before I even look at them, like what do you think about your play, your mid-iron play, what do you think about how you were off the tee, and then wedge play, and I told him when he asked me that, I said I felt like my wedge play was average last season, and it was as average as any category that we had.”

He also thinks, despite being No 1 in putting last year that he can improve.

“I can get better at certain putting ranges,” he added, “and you can always get a little bit better driving the ball off the tee.”

He added that his wedge play at the Masters last year was very good. But he doesn’t have the stats.

He said his that his strokes gained categories were high, which was what they are looking to achieve. That would show his strength relative to the field.

“We just nailed down specifics on what I need to work on each week, sand save percentage, and we kind of picked a plan that I’m going to go through each week.”

While he wouldn’t say precisely what his goals are the 2016 because he likes to keep that in the team, he did say mainly that he needs more victories and more chances in the majors.

Spieth’s rise to the top of the PGA Tour was meteoric. Three years ago he turned professional. He got a start in Panama, and later that same season played in the Presidents Cup.

“I felt like that season was more important than this last season was almost, just because I got a job and got secured into the World Rankings and could get into all the events I had dreamt of playing as a kid and the opportunity to win them,” he said.

Spieth has been in Hawaii since last Wednesday. He and his caddie Michael Greller have snorkeled, spear-fished and generally enjoyed what Hawaii has to offer.

Once again, he said he loves the golf course and the grainy Bermuda greens, which are the kind that Kapalua has.

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“It’s fun. The elevation changes, having to judge the elevation change with the wind, the ball just kind of does some crazy stuff out here,” he added. “This is one that we strive to make each year, and if I am eligible to play in this tournament and I’m not, I hope every single one of you calls me and bashes me for it.”