Hot putter helps Jordan Spieth surge into contention at The Players
Phillip Heilman @phillip_heilman
Jordan Spieth could hardly finish his masterful third round at The Players Championship before longtime pal and playing partner Justin Thomas landed a well-timed one-liner.
"It's amazing what happens," Thomas recalled saying on the 18th green, "when you get to play here on a Saturday."
That's been no guarantee for Spieth, the world No. 4. He missed the cut here each of the previous three years and flirted with the cut line again the first two days before landing squarely on it entering the weekend.
But using an accurate putter and several nice approach shots, Spieth brushed aside his past mistakes and an erratic driver to shoot 7-under-par 65 and move to 8-under entering the final round. Spieth's career-low round at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass had him tied for eighth, seven shots back of leader Webb Simpson, when he signed his scorecard.
"At this point, it's fun," said Spieth, whose 8:20 a.m. tee time with Thomas was the second-earliest pairing of the day. "I have nothing to lose. I was 14 back starting [Saturday] and anything inside a top-10 is an incredible feat over the weekend from that far back. And I've got a chance to potentially make more noise than that."
Spieth's short game was the biggest reason for his unexpected charge.
After hitting 11 fairways in each of the first two rounds, Spieth was an underwhelming 6 of 14 on Saturday, including misplaced tee shots at No. 4 (primary rough) and No. 14 (fairway bunker) that contributed to his only two bogeys. His putter was for more precise.
Of Spieth's 24 putts, none was missed from within 16 feet. He sunk putts of 7 feet, 3 inches (par at No. 5), 8 feet, five inches (birdie at No. 7), 10 feet, 11 inches (par at No. 8) and consecutive tries of 6 feet, 11 inches for birdies at the 11th and 12th holes.
When Spieth needed to avoid giving a shot back, he was dead on. When he wanted to keep the momentum rolling, he was pure.
"I actually drove the ball unbelievably well the first two days, and I hit my driver really poorly today and shot 7-under," Spieth said. "So it just shows you where it actually matters, and that's on the greens."
It wasn't just that the three-time major champion was sinking putts. He did hit a few important irons.
Spieth closed with birdies on the final three holes, including a beautiful tee shot toward the Island Green that stuck 3 feet from the hole. At the ever-treacherous No. 18, he smashed a 328-yard tee shot onto the fairway before stopping his second a mere 3 feet, 2 inches from the hole.
After a maddening round of 75 and a solid 68, Spieth finally got the results he felt he deserved.
"I felt like I was hitting the ball better than I was showing the first two days, as far as approach game," Spieth said. "I felt like my swing was on. I was hitting good shots and I was two yards off here or there, and so it was just a matter of time if I stuck with it until you get two yards on the right."
Little has gone right for Spieth at The Players since he tied for fourth at 10-under during his debut in 2014. He didn't break 70 in any of his next seven rounds prior to Friday, a confounding lack of success for a player who is regularly in contention seemingly everywhere else.
After an exhale-inducing round Saturday, Spieth was able to joke about his previous struggles and the optimism that comes with having a hot putter.
"I'm telling you, if you don't miss a putt inside 15 feet, golf is pretty easy," Spieth said. "But when you are making half of them like I was in the first round, then it's a harder game."
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