Jordan Spieth: Most Uncomfortable Putting Week in Career
Spieth’s Sunday rally at the TOUR Championship left him just shy of his second FedEx Cup title, with his usually steady putting letting him down.
It was a three-glove final round for Jordan Spieth at the Tour Championship. Heat and humidity seeped in from everywhere, in part because it’s Atlanta in September and in part because of the moisture left over from Hurricane Irma.
Spieth, though, made no excuses for inability to climb higher on the leaderboard. He put it on his putting.
"“This was the most uncomfortable I’ve been with the putter in my hands maybe in my career. It was probably the worst putting event that I had this entire year,” he said after he finished the final round. “This tournament almost summed up the year. I struck the ball nicely, I just couldn’t quite get comfortable to get in just a full-blown, full tournament rhythm on the greens.”"
Every player falls out of love with his putter once in a while. It’s just unexpected that it would be Spieth.
When asked to detail what the issues were with his putting, he replied, “ I would look up, and it would be on a different line from where I thought, and then I didn’t know what to do over the ball.”
He said he couldn’t figure out if it was timing or alignment or something else.
“Cameron was here,” he noted about his coach Cameron McCormack. “We were trying to figure it out.”
The inability to create Spieth-like miracle putts created scoring problems. He was -2.154 in strokes gained putting for the week which was 21st out of 30. He had 109 putts for the week, and he fact that he hit just 46 out of 72 greens for the week did not help, an average of just over 60 percent.
"“Those middle two rounds I just had to get more out of it,” he explained. “I just got off to poor starts. I was over par the first few holes each day and when the winning score’s somewhere around 12 under, you’ve got to really — your off days still have to be under par.”"
He shot even and 1-under in the middle rounds and backed up while Justin Thomas went forward.
Naturally, he hopes to be back, as does every good player on the PGA Tour.
“I love this golf course, I love this tournament,” he added. “If I putt well, if I putt better, then we’re in the thick of things.”
As far as the putting, he thinks after next week, it will help him to just not touch a club for a while.
“I’ll just come back revamped. I’ll get back to basics and go from there like I do every year,” he said.
He said he was looking forward to a few beverages.
While Spieth was not able to win the tournament or the FedEx Cup, he said he was happy for his friend Justin Thomas, who came in second at the tournament and won the FedEx Cup worth $10 million. Unfortunately for Spieth, Thomas will also win Player of the Year from the PGA of America and most likely the PGA Tour Player of The Year as well, but Spieth won those titles in 2015.
Now his focus turns to the Presidents Cup, his second, having been a captain’s pick in 2015.
“It’s just an incredible environment that’s unique in sport,” he said. “I really look forward to these weeks. It’s giving me chills right now just thinking about how much fun we’re going to have.”
Like most players who have participated in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, he mentioned the friendships that develop from the time the teams spend together during those weeks.
As far as the putting, he thinks after next week, it will help him to just not touch a club for a while.
“I’ll just come back revamped. I’ll get back to basics and go from there like I do every year,” he said.
After the Presidents Cup, he said he might play a fall event, but he said he has not committed to anything yet.
Next: Justin Thomas closes career season with FedEx Cup title
One way or another, expect Spieth to come back better than ever in 2018.