McKINNEY, Texas — Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man … well, grumpy.
At least that was the case for Jordan Spieth, who followed an opening-round funfest at the AT&T Byron Nelson with a more pedestrian 70 on Friday, although it was good enough to keep him near the top of the leaderboard after the second round’s early wave.
After having the opportunity to sleep in a bit on Thursday before enjoying a rousing 63 alongside ol’ buddies Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris, Spieth heard the alarm go off well before sunrise in advance of Friday’s second round. Yes, this week at TPC Craig Ranch is something of a home game for the three-time major champ, as he’s a Dallas native and lives in the area, but it’s never fun to get out of bed too early. Even if it’s your own.
“When I wake up at 4:30, I’m in a bad mood just as most people probably are and I needed to kick that today,” Spieth said. “I think yesterday even when I wasn’t playing a good hole I was kind of laughing at the miss or chunked it and laughed. Today I had a shorter fuse. So hopefully. … I’ll just get some better rest tonight.
“There is no reason for me not to trust everything I’m doing. At this point, I’ve got an opportunity to contend here, and if I can get myself a chance on Sunday, that is the best prep for this tournament and also next week.”
For Spieth — who tested positive for COVID about 10 days after leaving Augusta in April and was forced to quarantine in his Dallas home away from his wife, Annie — a lack of scoring had to do with a lack of putting success.
While making seven birdies and an incredible eagle on Thursday, Spieth needed 26 putts and holed 121 feet, 7 inches total. On Friday, the former Longhorn made 61 feet, 3 inches over the entire round. He did end on a high, however, posting a birdie on No. 9, his final hole of the day.
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“I just had plenty of looks. I didn’t make many putts at all today. It was nice to cap off a birdie on the last hole to really feel like I had … within three is certainly a lot better as you head into a weekend when you got to score,” Spieth said.
With difficult weather conditions in the weekend forecast, Spieth knows he’ll need to tighten things up a bit heading into Saturday’s third round. He’s hoping to build on a recent resurgence, one that’s seen him post six top-10 finishes in his last eight events, including a victory at the Valero Texas Open and a T-3 at the Masters.
“I just have got to kind of get a little more compact with my golf swing. Just throw out today, go to the range, and just go back to yesterday’s feels and see if I can get a little more compact,” he said. “Then I really got to get dialed in with a putting feel. I’ve missed six or seven putts inside of 10 feet the last two days. That’s just kind of that, you know, when you get to playing more and more, instead of being a little uncomfortable you just start to … they’re just another putt.
“Tomorrow will be a really good test. Tomorrow the golf course will be more difficult than any other day, and I think that’ll be a test on where I’m at.”