Jordan Spieth hasn’t made a trip to the Wyndham Championship in six years.
It was back in 2013 that Jordy was looking for his second PGA Tour win but lost in a playoff to that dastardly Patrick Reed.
After that, it was onward and upward for Spieth, who won five times back in 2015 and another three times in 2017. Along the way, he collected three majors and was a solid top five guy in the world rankings.
After winning the 2017 Open Championship, things started to slowly head downhill for Jordy.
That downhill slope only got steeper as 2018 came and went without a win.
The 2019 season was no different. Eighteen events in the calendar year — three missed cuts and a head-scratching three top 10s. Ouch!
Spieth has fallen all the way to 37th in the Official World Golf Rankings. He’s a lowly 69th in the FedEx Cup points race.
And that’s why you’ll see Jordy this week in Greensboro.
A year ago it was a big deal that Spieth didn’t make it to East Lake and the final 30. This year, it will be a big deal if he does make it there.
Whatever happened to the Jordan Spieth of 2015 and 2017?
If there was a real-world easy answer, Spieth would pay a lot of money for it.
First clue might be that he started an obsession with distance off the tee. That’s what matters a lot these days out there and Spieth started trying to add big yards.
Second, well, our PGA of America friends have often said: “Look at his left hand grip — it keeps getting weaker and weaker.” Yeah, there’s something up with that grip of his — just doesn’t look right.
You’d think his guy — Cameron McCormick — would have found the answer by now. Maybe, just maybe, Jordy needs to dial 9-1-1 and set up a meeting with Butch Harmon.
If you’ve watched Spieth lately, you’ll see that he has the two-way miss going for him. That’s deadly on the PGA Tour. Spieth shot 68 in his final round at Memphis but his scorecard was like too many of his scorecards this season — eight birdies, two double-bogeys and two more bogeys. As far as the doubles — one came on a wild tee shot, wide left. The other came on a wild tee-shot, wide-right. The dreaded two-way miss in full display.
Spieth’s magical putter is coming to life a bit but that ball-striking is the thing tour-nightmares are made of.
This week at Sedgefield will be Spieth’s fourth-straight event.
“I’ve never played more than four in a row and I might be doing six in a row, but going home for some breaks in between,” he said. “East Lake’s my No. 1 goal at this point, I really want to get back there. I didn’t like missing that last year and coming in further behind this year than I was last year.”
This time last year Spieth was 43rd on the points list entering the playoffs. He didn’t post a top 10 in the first three postseason events and missed the Tour Championship for the first time in his career.
This go-round, at 69th on the points list, Spieth needs a good showing this week.
“I would like to make East Lake, that’s my goal now,” said Spieth after he tied for 12th last week.
“That’s why I decided to play (this week). It’s a tournament that I always want to play.”
He didn’t play for six years because success dictated that he didn’t need to.
Now he’s in golf’s No Man’s Land.
The land of the two-way miss.
By the way, Jordy turned 26 last Saturday.
Time is on his side.
But that two-way miss is not.
Good luck with that, Jordy.
6 Comments
RM
It’s a shame. I really like him and hope he gets untracked. All sports at the highest levels have a certain amount of randomness, but this one is a head scratcher. Pretty big fall for this type of talent.
I remember commentary to the effect that he would stay at the top because of his level head and composure, putting ability, and the overall soundness of his game. Maybe a little lacking in length relative to the field, but he really didn’t have any glaring weaknesses.
Strange to me that his coach hasn’t been able to help him sort through this. Hopefully he reads Dogleg News. 1-800-BUTCH.
Tom Edrington
RM: Yes a lot of my friends who are PGA of America professionals have wondered the same thing when it comes to his coach not being able to help Spieth find a way out of this poor play — the two-way miss is the culprit. Butch is so good because he was a player and can be pretty blunt with these stars…..I think he once asked Rickie Fowler if he wanted to be a Twitter star or a golf star.
Mr. Sweepy
Having been a serious weight lifter, body builder and above average hacker, I started to notice something about Jordan physically. He is bigger in the upper body. He has put on more muscle. Part of this I am sure is just natural growth at his age. However I tend to think that the Dustin and Brooks effect is in play with Jordan. The stronger and longer doesn’t always work for everyone at this level of gold. Yes Dustin and Brooks both are big and strong but they also have great flexibility. Maybe this is what Jordan needs to work on.
Tom Edrington
I’ll go with the eye of my PGA Professional buddies, look at that LEFT HAND GRIP, keeps getting weaker and weaker. Yes, Jordy has chased distance, but he’s certainly long enough to win with his short game when it’s in the order it was in ’15 and ’17.
baxter cepeda
I do not believe any of Spieths woes are technique related; it’s a psychological issue with Jordan.
When Jordan first came out he was happy go lucky, confidence high, but expectations in check. But early on Jordan also strategized, especially at the Masters, with extreme discipline. The Masters win included never missing on the inside of a dogleg for example. He had the perfect mix of happy, youthful, exuberant golf mixed with smart golf.
His strategy has gotten sloppier, less disciplined. But as so many expected the successful years are what are killing him now. For example Soon after that success those love able extra looks became way too many looks. The opinions from Jordan about many things around golf got a bit darker. Jordan became a grumpy old golfer all of a sudden.
These issues are not complicated but they can be a lot harder to correct than a grip issue or anything else technical.
If Jordan is going to call Butch, he should ask for his psychology department; which is one of his strongest departments still as more and more coaches can cover the technical.
Imo Jordan needs to watch video of himself, but only for what Ursula would look for: body language…
Tom Edrington
Baxter, this time I’ll beg to differ with you. The two-way miss is swing-related, simple as that. I’ll defer to my PGA Professional pals who believe it’s all in the grip, which is one of if not the most important fundamental of the game.