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Jordan Spieth has insisted there is no quick fix to finding the form that catapulted him to No. 1 in the world a few years ago, and his frustrating missed cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open was another example of the challenge he is enduring.
Spieth, who has fallen outside the top 50 in the world ranking, missed the cut after he bogeyed his final hole on Friday, knowing he needed a birdie to play the weekend. Though Spieth played better, shooting 69 in the second round after an opening 74, it was a disappointing result after a T55 finish in his 2020 debut at the Farmers Insurance Open.
“I just really wanted it,” Spieth (above) said Friday after flashing some emotion on the course. “I wanted to play the weekend. I had a bunch of buddies come in town. I wanted to kind of give them something to watch the next couple days.
“I knew once I started hitting those tee balls down the fairway to start the round today, I knew I was going to give myself plenty of opportunities. So when I just, I couldn’t do the easy part for me, which is the putting. That’s what was so frustrating. It hasn’t been like that. It’s been putting saving me and today it was kind of a little bit of the opposite.
“So any emotion was just kind of a want or a will. It’s not like overall frustration. I’ve had plenty of that. I’m done with that. I’m on the rebound now.”
Spieth told reporters he has made a small change to his grip, strengthening it slightly at the recommendation of his longtime coach, Cameron McCormick. He struggled in Phoenix to hit left-to-right shots and acknowledged that will remain a focus in the coming weeks as he adjusts his club position at the top of his swing.
“I don’t really have a fade right now,” Spieth said. “That’s what let me down this week. I knew I shouldn’t have been playing fades, but sometimes you kind of have to. And I was probably 3 or 4 over cumulative, even if I was playing out of the fairway, with a wedge, playing fade this week.
“So that will start to come. I'm still kind of, on the fade, just kind of chopping down on it a little bit, so I’ve got to get a little more patient in my backswing. But overall, when the driver starts to come around, everything else – that’s normally last, so when that starts to come around, I’m not worried about the rest of the game.”
Spieth will play the next two weeks at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. He is not currently eligible for the WGC-Mexico Championship and will not qualify for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March should he fall outside the top 64 in the ranking. He entered last week's play at No. 51.
Staff and Wire Reports