Jordan Spieth loves playing Colonial, but he wants to be more than a one-hit wonder
Jordan Spieth believes the results tell the story when it comes to his love for Colonial Country Club. And Spieth is right.
Spieth, who is making his 10th appearance in the Charles Schwab Challenge this week, is already the all-time money winner in tournament history. He’s earned $3,734,276 in nine events, making the cut every time.
Spieth won the tournament in 2016 and has three runner-up finishes. He was in the final group last year before struggling with a 3-over 73 on Sunday, opening the door for eventual champion Jason Kokrak.
But this is a tournament in which Spieth is always a favorite.
“It seems to, for whatever reason, fit my game really well,” said Spieth, who starts off No. 1 tee at 12:56 p.m. Thursday alongside Max Homa and Daniel Berger.
“It’s a really fun stop being home but not quite the Byron Nelson. A little bit less going on, but also have the same kind of support. It’s always a great week. I’m very much looking forward to this week.”
Spieth went on to talk about the importance of finding fairways given the penalizing rough at Colonial as well as getting on a roll with his putter. He ranks 177th in strokes gained in putting on the PGA Tour this season, but believes his putting has improved.
And Colonial is a golf course that Spieth has putted well at throughout his career.
“I felt like I putted the best I’ve putted this year last week, and it just doesn’t show on the stats,” said Spieth, who finished tied for 34th at the PGA Championship. “But it was the most free-flowing strokes I’ve had.
“I think it’s a matter of time before the lid comes off and I start to pour some in. A little disappointing that didn’t happen last week. I misread a lot of putts. Out here? I don’t really have the excuse of misreading putts because I should know where most of them go having played this course 60 to 75 times.”
Spieth has put himself in contention a number of times over the years, although he only broke through for the victory in 2016. He’s had a run of forgettable Sundays of late, shooting over-par scores on Sunday the past three years (72 in 2019, 71 in 2020 and 73 in 2021).
The 73 from last year is still fresh in Spieth’s memory.
“Really frustrating because I was playing well enough to win,” he said. “I just had a really bad round.”
Spieth also recalled the 2015 tournament when Chris Kirk drained a putt to win by one, and the 2017 tournament when Kevin Kisner won it.
“It is a bit frustrating to finish up near the top that often and only have one win,” Spieth said. “I like to pride myself on the ability to close when in the lead. … Maybe when you go winless for a while, you’ve got to kind of learn that little extra patience or whatever it is that I had to learn back in 2013, 2014 that hopefully I can kind of tip back into and close more out when I’m towards the top on Sunday.”
