Jordan Spieth didn’t turn any heads on Thursday at the 148th Open Championship. His opening 70 left him pretty much back in the pack.
On Friday, Spieth’s putter, his greatest weapon, came to life.
Spieth was draining putts from all over the rolling greens at Royal Portrush, he was hot early, really hot. Four birdies, an eagle and one bogey had him four-under at the turn. An even par back nine and he was in with a second round 67 and he shot up the leaderboard.
In at five-under, Spieth was tied for eighth with Brooks Koepka, Andrew Putnam and Dylan Frittelli. More important, he goes into the weekend just three back of the co-leaders — Shane Lowry and J.B. Holmes.
“The putter has felt great for the last couple of months,” Spieth pointed out. “It’s been really solid inside 10 feet. I’d like to give myself a chance on Sunday.”
To do that, he’ll have to clean up his tee balls and iron play. He hit just five of 14 fairways and 12 greens. He found himself out of position more times than not but his scrambling and his putter kept him in the game.
At some point I’d like to be playing off the short grass this week,” he said. “I’ve spent a decent amount of time in some pretty bad spots this season, so maybe that’s helping a little bit. I posted a score that was pretty incredible from where I played my second shots from,” he said.
As for the weekend, Spieth will be drawing on his experience in major championships.
“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.”
