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John Deere Classic: Jordan Spieth skyrockets contention strong round john,deere,classic,jordan,spieth,skyrockets,contention,strong,round,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour

On: July 6, 2024 By: admin

Jordan Spieth came out blazing hot at the John Deere Classic on Saturday with his lowest round of the season. He carded an 8-under 63 to sit at 14-under total. Spieth jumped 33 spots on Moving Day, making the most of his early tee time.

The former Texas Longhorn was 6-under through eight holes as he went out in 29 strokes. He added two more birdies on the 10th and 12th before his only hiccup of the day.

Spieth bogeyed the par-4 13th but quickly regrouped. Three straight pars followed before he made his ninth birdie of the day at 17. It was nearly an eagle, but it came up inches short.

“It felt a lot better than being 7-under through 16, and I feel almost like a weird disappointment at that point,” Spieth said. “So nice to hit two beautiful shots into 17 and half a roll from getting an eagle there.”

“All in all, those finishing pins were tougher. Fortunately, I don’t think the field is going to make four birdies in a row to finish. Most of them are out there a little before that. It was a good day. Did a lot of things well. I improved on yesterday and that was my goal.”

His putter proved to be one of the strongest clubs in his bag on Saturday. Spieth made 100 feet of putts through the 12th hole.

Saturday’s 63 was his best round of the week so far, but that is typically how he handles this tournament. Spieth starts slow but gets stronger as the week goes on.

“It’s a race. It’s prime scoring conditions,” he said. “We had quite a few front pins in bowls that you needed to make birdie on. Sometimes that’s the hardest part, is the shot almost seems too easy because we’re not used to it.”

“Luckily, I capitalized on those and made a couple of putts,” Spieth said. “It was just a good solid round. No chip-ins, nothing spectacular, no crazy ones here or there. But tomorrow, if I can be as solid as I was today and maybe catch a couple of extra breaks, it would take something extremely flawless to have a chance, but I’ll try and do what I did today.”

Spieth’s 14-under is currently T14 on the leaderboard. TPC Deere Run is playing into these guys’ hands, especially the front nine. The back nine is playing a little trickier. He will have to go low on Sunday to potentially win his third John Deere Classic.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

John Deere Classic: Jordan Spieth makes 1st start in 9 years john,deere,classic,jordan,spieth,makes,st,start,in,years,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour

On: July 4, 2024 By: admin

Jordan Spieth is back in the Quad Cities for the first time since his 2015 John Deere Classic victory.

So far, it seems to be a sentimental trip for him as he reminisces on his history at TPC Deere Run.

Ahead of the tournament, Spieth joined the media to reflect on his 2013 and 2015 victories and how much has changed for him.

“I probably spent a little more time at the course back then, but in general, my day-to-day on the course hasn’t changed much,” Spieth said on Wednesday. “Off the course, it’s obviously very different.”

He has grown a lot from the young 21-year-old kid on Tour.

“I think I try to be that kid,” he said. “I try to think about being that kid every time I tee it up.”

Spieth is now a dad of two kids and has 13 PGA Tour wins.

Ahead of the tournament, he, his son Sammy and his daughter Sophie went to ‘The Big Dig,’

“I think Michael [Greller] had the most fun,” he said. “He and his two kids were out driving tractors around. It was a lot of fun. It was full circle, right? I was 21 the last time I was here, and now I’ve got two kids that I took to The Big Dig.”

He explained that his return to the John Deere Classic had been on the table since early spring, and thankfully, the timing worked out for his schedule.

“I was pretty excited about the idea that I would be coming back the Deere this year, now that we’re here, it’s crazy,” Spieth said on Wednesday.

“It really does feel like a second home. It’s been really cool, the reception I received since coming back one day at Zach Johnson’s charity event and then a couple of days here at the golf course. I don’t have support like this anywhere outside of DFW, so hopefully, that continues this week, and I can pick up where I left off.”

Spieth has only played in this event four times. The John Deere Classic gave him a sponsor exemption in 2012 when he finished T58. He would win in 2013, tie for seventh in 2014 and win again in 2015.

Will he have similar luck in his fifth start? So much has changed for him since his last start in the Quad Cities.

Spieth has not had his best season on Tour in 2024. He has played in 17 events and has just three top 10s and three top 25s. The 30-year-old has also missed five cuts.

Last week at the Travelers Championship, he finished T63. At the U.S. Open, it was a T41. Spieth missed the cut at Jack Nicklaus’ Signature Event, The Memorial.

The last time he finished inside the top 10 was at the Valero Texas Open with a T10. Since then, it has been an up-and-down grind. Despite his performances in the last few months, Spieth is among the betting favorites.

Nonetheless, this week holds a lot of weight for him. Spieth is currently No. 59 in the FedEx Cup rankings. He will need to find some success in the coming weeks if he wants to play past the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

PGA Tour: Can Jordan Spieth win John Deere Classic again? pga,tour,can,jordan,spieth,win,john,deere,classic,again,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: July 1, 2024 By: admin

Jordan Spieth arrives at the John Deere Classic as one of the betting favorites, according to DraftKings. But the three-time major winner has hardly played like a tournament favorite throughout the 2024 season.

He has had a frustrating campaign, especially after missing the cut at Augusta National. Since then, Spieth has made eight starts. He missed the cut twice and did not post a finish better than T-29. That somewhat respectable result came at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he shot only one round in the 60s: an opening round 2-under 69.

But these last few months have served as a microcosm of Spieth’s career over the past seven years—a stretch filled with disappointment and agony, considering his stature and accomplishments. He has won only two tournaments since his Open Championship triumph at Royal Birkdale in 2017: the 2021 Valero Texas Open and the 2022 RBC Heritage.

Since then, he has had a few calls, finishing runner-up to K.H. Lee at the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson and losing to Matt Fitzpatrick in a playoff at the 2023 RBC Heritage. He has 13 top 10s dating back to April 2022 but has missed 11 cuts since that juncture, too.

And yet, despite those ups and downs, Spieth, now 30 years old, has a tremendous perspective on where he is at this point in his career.

“Once I know what I’m capable of, I want to obviously stay there. If you fall from that even a little bit, it frustrates you, and then if you fall quite a bit from that, you can be wondering what in the world is going on,” Spieth said ahead of this year’s Charles Schwab Challenge in mid-May.

“It can overtake you, and it did for me for a little while. I think I have a better perspective now, but at the same time, the drive to get to where I know my ceiling has never been higher. So, every day I’m not there, I still walk away feeling like I progressed towards it; I walk away really pleased with my day. But some days, I feel like I didn’t, and instead of being okay with that, I lose a little patience because I know what I am capable of, and not sustaining that every year is something that I’m not okay with personally.

“I think it’s something I wouldn’t change anything that’s ever happened to me. I’ve accomplished pretty much all the goals that I had in golf, albeit, you know, in a short period of time, but the nature of sustaining that is something that I would like to have another opportunity at, and I’ll continue to work towards.”

Spieth went on to tie for 37th that week at Colonial, the course not far from his hometown of Dallas, Texas. He then missed the cut at the Memorial, tied for 41st at the U.S. Open, and most recently struggled at the Travelers Championship, finishing T-63—almost dead last.

But now, after a week off, Spieth arrives in the Quad Cities hoping to establish some momentum before the season’s final major. He has won the John Deere Classic twice, in 2013 and 2015, but nothing says he cannot make it a third time this year—especially since the best player in the field, Patrick Cantlay, withdrew.

Jordan Spieth, PGA Tour, John Deere Classic — Jordan Spieth won the 2013 John Deere Classic in a five-hole playoff. He was only 19 years old then.

And yet, the question is, how?

For starters, Spieth has to gain some confidence in his short game again, an attribute that has been very un-Spieth-like this season. He ranks 78th on tour in strokes gained around the green and 80th in putting—a surprising figure given how good he was with his flat stick when he was at the height of his powers.

Spieth also has to improve his ball striking. He is 110th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: approaching the green, 70th in greens in regulation percentage, and 86th in proximity to the hole. He has especially struggled with his wedges, ranking 130th in approaches from inside 100 yards, another jarring statistic that is very un-Spieth-like.

So this week, at TPC Deere Run, a course that yields plenty of birdies, Spieth should play to the middle of the greens and look to avoid the big numbers. He already makes tons of par breakers, making more than four per round, but the problem is that Spieth drops too many shots. He makes bogey nearly 17% of the time this season, ranking 139th on tour in bogey avoidance—a reality that will not win you many golf tournaments.

Thus, Spieth must play conservatively and not press too much on a golf course that gives the player a green light in more ways than one. And if he can do that, Spieth will have a good chance of doing a victory lap in one of those famous green John Deere tractors on Sunday night.

That would undoubtedly shake off his frustrations.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.