Spieth claws way into final group at Nelson behind supportive crowd

If ever a golf course environment was tweaked to create a home-field advantage for a competitor, Saturday was that day at the AT&T Byron Nelson.

Gallery members lined the fairways at the Four Seasons Resort clutching Jordan Spieth bobbleheads. They stirred the breeze with cardboard replicas of the Dallas resident’s face attached to wooden sticks to prove they were “fans” of the No. 2 player in the world golf rankings.

Before entering the course, well-wishers passed giant blue letters at the main gate where they could stand in the gap to form the “I” while surrounded by the remaining letters in the word “SPIETH.”

As spectators toured the TPC Las Colinas layout, Spieth-related signage greeted children at the Autograph Zone and reminded everyone that the hometown hero did, in fact, win the 2015 FedEx Cup to cap last year’s breakthrough season.

Imagine a one-player Ryder Cup squad, with Team Spieth against the Other Guys. That’s the current vibe in Irving, where Nelson leader Brooks Koepka is the face of the franchise for the Other Guys as he seeks to protect a two-stroke lead over the Chosen One in Sunday’s final round.

How tough is it, Koepka was asked, playing the role of villain when 99.99 percent of the gallery clearly wants you to lose?

“I really don’t care. Doesn’t really bother me,” said Koepka, who built his two-stroke lead by posting a third-round 65 while grouped with Spieth and will be the hometown hero’s partner in the final pairing. “He’s got a lot of support, which is cool to see. He should.”

Let the record show that the All-Spieth, all-the-time marketing efforts had zero impact on the way PGA Tour officials set up the TPC course between the ropes. Spieth, 22, earned everything he got while posting a third-round 67 despite a dysfunctional swing to reach Sunday’s featured group for the first time in his hometown tour event.

Spieth, who missed only three greens in regulation during this first 36 holes, missed seven in the third round. But he saved par on five occasions with a clutch putting performance that eventually triggered an impromptu standing ovation when Spieth buried a 19-foot birdie putt on the 17th green.

Spieth called the reaction “a moment that I’ll never forget” and “the coolest roar I’ve ever heard” on a golf course. Koepka called it “probably the loudest roar I ever heard on a golf course, which is pretty neat.”

I’m calling it a mere warm-up to what Sunday will be like if Dallas’ favorite son secures his first PGA Tour title in Texas at his hometown tour stop.

To make it happen will require more clutch putts and 18 additional holes with a laser-sharp focus. The reigning U.S. Open champion flashed both of those assets Saturday while willing home five birdies on a day when he acknowledged his swing was off to the point that “if I had a 9-iron in my hands and I put it on the green, I was pleased. I’m being brutally honest.”

To some, shouldering huge expectations can be a heavy burden. But Spieth survived, and mostly thrived, on a day when the last of 8,000 bobbleheads bearing his likeness were handed out to fans by 1:29 p.m.

The lone hint of nerves occurred at the first tee after Spieth split the fairway in front of Peggy Nelson, widow of the tournament namesake, while being watched by a 10-deep throng of gallery members lining both sides of the fairway. After his drive, Spieth drifted briefly into a nearby port-a-potty before rejoining his competitors for their approach shots.

Rest assured, Spieth had plenty of opportunities to be distracted. As he made contact with his initial approach shot, a group of fans yelled “Get in the hole!” as the ball left his club face. The shot never came close but Spieth two-putted for par from 45 feet. After chipping from a spot near the second green, Spieth’s follow-through triggered a cry of “One time for the city!” Instead, Spieth had to sink a 6-footer to secure a scrambling par.

Spieth’s round turned at the difficult third hole, a 507-yard par-4. His 303-yard drive set up an approach to 4 feet that produced his first of five birdies. Any lingering jitters, if they ever existed, seemed to disappear after that.

The hometown hero fed off energy provided by Team Spieth all the way through his double-breaking birdie putt at No. 17. As the watched fans spring to their feet when the ball dropped, Spieth said: “There’s nothing I could do after that but just start smiling. That was really, really cool.”

Looking ahead, Spieth said he’s hoping for some “extra adrenaline” as he seeks to slam the door on his personal fifth major.

“It’s very difficult for me to stand up here and not be positive given that I’m at 14 under,” Spieth said. “But if you guys knew the kind of stress I felt over the golf ball right now trying to put my swing in the right position, it is a challenge.”

On the flip side, Koepka faces the pressure of trying to silence Team Spieth in this mini-Ryder Cup setting. Asked how he planned to prepare for the task, Koepka said: “I’m just going to do me.”

Maybe that will be enough. But Koepka can plan on seeing about 80,000 members of Team Spieth roaming the course who hope it is not. If things are close on the back nine, he can expect to hear from them, too.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Spieth claws way into final group at Nelson behind supportive crowd."