PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Even when he was at his best, Jordan Spieth never could shake the perception that he was a scrappy grinder who rode a scorching-hot putter to the top of the world. And, sure, sometimes that was accurate. But in 2017, when he won The Open at Royal Birkdale, Spieth was statistically the second-best ball-striker on the planet, and so he was able to effectively play the ball through the air on the windswept links, knocking down enough flags to turn a late deficit into a resounding win.
There hasn’t been much to celebrate since: The Open was his last worldwide victory, and to see him traversing all corners of Royal Portrush this week is to realize that he’s not particularly close to recapturing that 2017 form.
And yet, here he is, three shots off the lead after a Friday 67 at The Open, a performance that so far is vintage Spieth. His play through 36 holes has been a masterclass in creativity, producing birdies and saving par despite finding pot bunkers and the hay on seemingly every hole.
“At some point I’d like to be playing off the short grass this week,” he said.
Full-field scores from the 148th Open Championship
Full coverage of the 148th Open Championship
But this isn’t anything new for Spieth. He’s ranked 189th in driving accuracy this season. Consequently, he’s 183rd in greens hit. Which is why he’s 43rd in scoring average and 75th in FedExCup points and winless in the past 24 months – career worsts, all of them.
“I’ve spent a decent amount of time in some pretty bad spots this season,” Spieth said, “so maybe that’s helping a little bit (here).”
So, too, is the unique challenge of links golf. It’s no coincidence that his best chances to win over the past year have come in this championship. Last year he somehow played his way into the final group on Sunday, but he was ultimately exposed on the final day at Carnoustie, carding a birdie-less 76. This week he’s found just 39 percent of the fairways through two rounds, well below the field average, but he’s still inside the top 10.
Why? Because Spieth is finally focused on feel, not the technical aspects of his reconstituted swing, which must seem therapeutic after a year in which he’s worked harder than ever (sometimes fruitlessly) with coach Cameron McCormick.
Even without a swing he can fully trust, Spieth can contend by relying on his artistic ability, golf IQ and major-championship pedigree – all of which were on display during an adventurous even-par back nine that kept Spieth in the tournament.
There was the sporty sand save on No. 13. From a short-sided spot left of the 14th green, he played a daring flop shot over a bunker and steep, shaved bank to 8 feet. A hole later, he never saw the fairway but still got up and down out of a tiny greenside bunker. On the short 17th, he missed his line off the tee by a few yards, his ball diving into rough so thick that he had to crouch down just to identify his ball. He hacked out with a wedge, but the shot was played so deftly that his ball landed on the green, caught the back slope and funneled toward the cup, settling 10 feet away.
“I posted a score that was pretty incredible from where I played my second shots from,” he said.
That type of scrambling is unsustainable over the next two days, and Spieth knows that better than anyone. Open tests, he said, “favor you if you’re really striking the ball beautifully,” and that wouldn’t be the way you’d describe his long game, neither this week nor this year.
But of the players ahead of Spieth on the leaderboard, only one (Justin Rose) has won a major. No one possesses his sublime short game or putting. No one – not even Brooks Koepka – has been in contention as often over the past four years.
That gives Spieth hope, despite his ongoing search for a swing.
“I need to be looking at the positives of the history of this tournament and my history in major championships versus focusing on anything else,” he said. “If I can walk tall, knowing there’s very few people who have been in this situation contending in the weekend in majors as many times as I have, that’s certainly a boost of confidence for myself. That’s going to be the mentality.”