Colonial champ Spieth set to rebound again in Fort Worth

As a lifelong resident of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, defending Colonial champion Jordan Spieth always has envisioned winning both of the local PGA Tour stops as a professional golfer.

He made half of that dream a reality at last year’s Dean & DeLuca Invitational in Fort Worth and will return to next week’s event at Colonial Country Club as the player in the biggest spotlight.

The only way Spieth, 23, could find himself in a bigger spotlight during his title defense at “Hogan’s Alley” would be if the Dallas resident were coming off a win in Sunday’s final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson and came in seeking to complete a “Texas Two-Step.” That won’t be the case after Spieth missed Friday’s cut at the Four Seasons Resort.

But the No. 6 player in the world golf rankings made it clear in an interview earlier this week that he “almost considered it inevitable” that he will double-dip titles at both D-FW tour stops at some point in his professional career as long as he remains healthy. Just not this year.

“I guess that’s somewhat cocky to say. But I don’t mean it in that sense,” Spieth said of the potential to become the 16th golfer in history to prevail at both D-FW tour stops. “I’ll play 25 or 30 times at each place. The likelihood is, with the percentage of times I win on tour to tournaments played, one of them is bound to fall there at each event. I did look at the big picture at that. ... Winning both is something that is a lifelong goal for me.”

Because of that belief, Spieth said he “didn’t have too much pressure on me” to prevail in front of friends and family last year at Colonial and believes he is well-suited to continue his recent run of success in Fort Worth despite a late fade in Friday’s second round in Irving, where he missed the cut. In four appearances at Colonial, Spieth has finished first (2016), second (2015), seventh (2013) and 14th (2014).

He entered last year’s event in Fort Worth after a Sunday swoon at the Nelson, when he fell out of contention with a closing 74 but rebounded at “Hogan’s Alley” to post rounds of 67-66-65-65 and win by three strokes. This year, he’s coming off consecutive missed cuts at The Players Championship and the Nelson.

But he’s heading to a course where his success rate as a PGA Tour competitor rivals his well-chronicled mastery at the Masters Tournament (one win, two runner-up finishes, four top-11 placements in four starts). Spieth’s career scoring average at Colonial (67.31) is the best in tournament history among golfers who have played the venue more than once.

“Colonial is an event the course fits me better,” Spieth said, comparing the two local layouts. “I like the golf course a lot at Colonial. We’ve won and almost won a couple other times.”

As he seeks to rebound from a Nelson disappointment for a second consecutive season in Fort Worth, Spieth made it clear he plans to put in the time needed to experience a resurgence next week.

“I’ll put in some work this weekend and get over there early and put the right prep in to get ready,” said Spieth, who used a new putter during the Nelson to compensate for recent struggles on the greens.

Although Spieth has been pleased with his ball-striking efforts this season, he ranks 95th among tour competitors in putts per round and has struggled with his first-round scoring average (70.22), which has placed him in pursuit mode at multiple events this season. He seeks to break that trend at Colonial, where he will be back in a comfort zone for Thursday’s opening round.

“I’m not far off. I really don’t think so,” Spieth said. “It doesn’t look like that on paper but it feels very close. … I’ve struck the ball beautifully this year and just been a little off on the greens. The problem has been my opening rounds. I just haven’t had it. I’ve been behind the 8-ball too many times.”

Spieth seeks to change that, beginning with Thursday’s opening round at Colonial.

This story was originally published May 20, 2017 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Colonial champ Spieth set to rebound again in Fort Worth."