Media Center Interviews

April 2, 2021

Second Round Interview with Jordan Spieth

Q. Jordan, fun day to watch today. Got a kid heckling you on 10. What are your takeaways from today?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't even know what he said. Yeah, it seemed like there was a good crowd out there. In our group it didn't seem like there was any limited fans. We had a really good showing and seemed like people were really ready to get out of the house because they certainly took full advantage of it. It was rowdy.

Playing with Ryan Palmer, there were a lot of guys rooting against him or against me that were either A&M guys or Texas guys. So I thought it would be nice to play with another person from the state of Texas to get the support, but I didn't really realize it was going to be opposites out there.

But it was fun. We knew it was coming. I just tried to take a really good attitude into today knowing that we were going to get some really windy conditions. I thought the start was key for me and I got off to a great start in that and put some really good swings on the ball after kind of being a little sloppy at the end of yesterday's round.

Q. Yesterday you said you were going to the range after your round. Were you able to work something out there and put it into play today?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I was just trying to get some contact consistency. I just kind of mis-hit a lot of the tee balls that made me kind of play away from the shots that were necessary. I think it was a little bit of that wind yesterday that got me. I was leaning into some and backing off of others. I just kind of wanted a good kind of stable -- I may not have hit more than 20 balls, but just kind of get a good rhythm and tempo in, try to carry that into today's round.

Q. So with the wind today, were you feeling a lot more, I guess, grounded through your swing?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. Starting out, No. 1 yesterday was downwind, which is a lot easier hole. In off the left when you can't feel, it's really tough kind of first tee ball. I stayed in that drive and I think that one right there gave me a lot of confidence. I was out in front of the ball a little bit better. There was a few of them where I wasn't, but certainly improvement on, say, a couple months ago. I mean, I'm trying to -- I'm really pleased with where things are at, but they're not where I want them to be at. I'm trying to kind of take it slowly and patiently and reward myself, be excited about the good ones and not get too down about the bad ones.

Q. It's nice to hear you say that. After the last few days, is that the mindset that you're taking with you?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. I think now everyone's going -- everyone towards the top of the leaderboard's got to play in the same conditions now, so that will be nice. You know, it's going to be tough. I thought 2 under was a good score today and certainly could have shot lower, but was able to climb back from a couple bogeys on the back nine. It's kind of just stay in there, stay in there, stay in there and give yourself a chance come the back nine Sunday. That's really the best prep I can do for not only trying to win this golf tournament, but also for next week.

Q. What is that move you were rehearsing on the practice tee this morning?

JORDAN SPIETH: I'm trying to -- yeah, I'm trying to get kind of shallower transitionally. I'm trying to do a lot of things. I could sit here and tell you the six different things I'm thinking about.

Q. I just want that one.

JORDAN SPIETH: I want it to be one or two, but I need to do all of them together for it to be tracking the way I want to and develop that into just kind of a swing feel that's kind of like an artistic motion, like almost I can see it happening from behind me as I'm feeling it. It's kind of a change in the way the shaft's pitching so I can shallow it out, so I can clear out and get out in front of it. I had gotten steep for a while, which makes me back up and flip it, and I'm trying to get shallowed and cleared out to where I can get a more stable face and a lot more consistent ball-striking.

Q. Did you reach out to Jason Dufner about this?

JORDAN SPIETH: No. I mean, really what I'm trying to do, I have golf swings that I had from my rookie year that was probably the best I've ever driven the ball and they were the best swings -- I mean, they were me. From when I was 15 until around 2016 or so, it was a very similar motion. Little things here and there were a little different. So I'm really just trying to go back in time structurally to a place that I've been.

You know, I bounce off ideas off players. Jason's been a really good friend to me, talking about feels. And then Cameron's the one that's helping kind of have it piece together. I'm obviously still working with Cameron and trying to get it to piece together and it's kind of a slower process because it's reversing essentially everything, all the bad habits I got into. So trying to use a bit of -- trying to work backwards, work from impact backwards versus getting stuck on trying to make a backswing right.

Q. One last thing. That particular motion, how long have you been working with that?

JORDAN SPIETH: Since Tuesday of Waste Management.