Jordan Spieth: What’s different for him this year?
By Ryan Andrade
Jordan Spieth looks to pick up a win in Texas to get his confidence back.
Jordan Spieth is on the hunt, in more than one way. For the second consecutive week, World No. 2 Jordan Spieth finds himself in excellent position for a win.
Spieth faltered on Sunday at the AT&T Byron Nelson with a very disappointing final round 4-over par 74. This week at Colonial he looks to learn from that performance and pick up his much awaited second victory of the 2016 season.
It really has been much longer than we all expected for Jordan Spieth to hoist his 2nd trophy of the year. He came out in style in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Maui, as he reached 30-under par and won by 8 shots. I think at that point many of us were talking about could Spieth really have a better season this year than his 2015 season for the ages?
Let’s not forget in 2015 Jordan Spieth won The Masters, The U.S. Open, and closed the year out right with a FedEx Cup trophy. He totaled five victories on the PGA TOUR and made over $12 million just from his tournament play!
So what has been the difference this year for Spieth? It’s not like he is having a bad year at all. I mean the guy has finished inside the top-25 in every cut he has made this season, but that isn’t enough for the average viewer. We have learned to expect so much from Spieth at still such a young age of 22. When we know what he is capable of doing, and he is clearly struggling, we begin to ask questions.
The stats are a very interesting this year as well when you compare them his incredible season last year. Believe it or not, his birdie or better percentage is higher this year than last year. His putting stats as well, while not quite as astonishing as last year, are still one of the best on tour. He does lead the tour this year in putting average. Spieth is also 30 spots higher this year in total driving.
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That all sounds like he should be having an incredible year, so what is holding him back? The biggest issue for Jordan Spieth has really been his iron play. Last year he ranked 49th on the PGA TOUR in greens in regulation. This season Spieth is way down at 118th. He is virtually giving himself the same shots, if not better, into the greens but has just been erratic.
The majority of those short iron misses have been flamed out to the right. He just isn’t getting through the ball as good as he did last year. Then once he misses the green, he isn’t scrambling as well. He was 4th in scrambling last season, and this year he is 60th.
Because of all of that, his scoring average is down and he hasn’t had the same finishes this year. You can see visually out on the course how frustrated and uncomfortable he can get over the ball at times.
He is standing over the ball a lot longer, and that just is giving him time for more bad thoughts to creep into his head. I believe he is a little too technical at the moment, and is starting to look like how Tiger does when he struggles.
Spieth just needs to keep his head up and trust himself. We all know that he is one of, if not the best player in the world. He just needs to get back to playing golf, and stop thinking about technical aspects of his golf swing. It’s much easier said then done, but we have seen flashes this year of what can happen when he plays freed up.
Next: Jordan Spieth Talks About the State of His Game
This week in his home state would be an excellent venue for Jordan Spieth to pick up his 8th career victory and get some confidence going into some of the biggest events of the season this summer.