Despite poor tee-to-green game, Spieth could win the Nelson
The mark of a great player is displaying the ability to win without their best stuff.
Last weekend at The Players, Jason Day flexed his muscle to grab a four-shot, wire-to-wire win in one of golf’s biggest events. Jordan Spieth, playing with Day for the first two days at TPC Sawgrass, had a front-row seat for half of the Aussie’s commanding performance.
Now Spieth is on the verge of doing the same thing in his hometown.
Spieth heads into the final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson trailing Brooks Koepka by two shots, but he has a final-pairing date with the Florida State product and the whole city of Dallas in his gallery, on his side.
Both Spieth, who is at 14-under 196 through 54 holes, and Koepka experienced the electricity of the crowd on Saturday in one moment, when Spieth drained a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th. Koepka called it “probably the loudest roar I think I’ve ever heard on a golf course.”
Spieth agreed.
“A moment that I’ll never forget,” he said. “Even though it’s Saturday (and) may or may not have any impact on this tournament, that was the coolest roar I’ve ever heard.”
However, the crowd alone cannot will Spieth to a second PGA Tour win in 2016. The 22-year-old has been struggling from tee-to-green all week, trying to implement swing changes he’s been working on since the Masters with teacher Cam McCormick. The changes have led to the development of a two-way — or unreliable — miss. It cost him a penalty stroke on the 14th hole on Saturday after a pulled drive landed in a water hazard. A flared drive to the right on the finishing hole forced him to land short of the green in 2, leading to a closing bogey.
What has saved Spieth so far this week has been his short game, which he flexed again on Saturday at TPC Four Seasons. The two-time major winner had 11 one-putt greens, fashioned by par save after par save.
“I was in some really, really tough spots and was a very stressful round of golf to play because I just don’t have confidence over the ball right now,” he said. “It’s very frustrating and actually putting incredible to still be in this tournament.”
You’ll have to pardon Spieth for sounding almost despondent about his golf game right now yet still sitting in the final pairing with a decent chance to win in Texas for the first time in his pro career.
“It’s very difficult for me to stand up here and not be positive given I’m at 14 under and contending in this tournament,” he 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, especially with the amount of difficult tee shots out here and trouble that guard at least one side of most of the fairways.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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