DUBLIN, Ohio – Jordan Spieth is talking to himself again. Golf does that to you.
“What are you supposed to do?” he says after hitting a 9-iron over the green in the swirling winds of Muirfield Village Golf Club during the Memorial Tournament.
What is he supposed to do? The answer has proved elusive for the former No. 1 player in the world, who is now 61st in the rankings and without a win since the 2017 British Open.
Spieth’s story is not a rags-to-riches tissue grabber. He was never a nobody, but instead a teen golf sensation who lived up to the hype, becoming the fifth-youngest winner in PGA Tour history when he won the 2013 John Deere Classic at age 19 year, 11 months, 18 days.
Neither is his a riches-to-rags cautionary tale. Spieth spent 13 weeks at No. 1 in 2015-16 – and was never outside the world’s top 10 from the last tournament of 2014 to the next-to-last event of 2018 – but it’s not like the 26-year-old Texan has flamed out. He tied for seventh at last year’s Memorial and has three top-10s this season.
It’s more that the Spieth story elicits emotional neutrality, somewhere between hallelujah and heartbreak, which describes the majority of Tour players who grind it out to make cuts from week to week. Spieth is no journeyman. He is not just another guy – three wins in major championships precludes that – but he has become something of an afterthought.
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If there is a shocking chapter in this narrative, that is it, because once upon a time he dined at the captain’s table of golf. Spieth in 2015 was Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods rolled into one. Engaging, insightful, mentally strong and deadly with the putter. He was good for golf. He still is, but his positive impact will only move front and center when his game stops waiting in the wings.
Is he close? He thinks so. During the second round of the Memorial he shot a 2-under 70 despite playing Army golf off the tee – left, right, left, right – and began Saturday tied for eighth at 4-under-par.
“Recently, those have been my 2- or 3-over rounds that have thrown me out of the tournament,” he said, sounding optimistic.
On Saturday, he had another 2-over round, posting a 74 after converting just one birdie.
The course is baking and Spieth is talking again, but others have joined the conversation. His golf ball cringes as he curses it for settling in a bad lie in the bunker. He and his caddie, Michael Greller, strategize over club selection. Without the buzz of galleries, whispers inside the ropes become booming voices across mostly empty green space.
Exceptions exist.
“They saved some lives today not having people out here, because I would have hit about six of them,” Spieth says to two females standing just outside the black metal fence separating million-dollar homes from millionaire golfers.
It is a good line, showing the self-deprecating side of a player who was wildly popular at the height of his success, before he began tweaking his swing like others who could not leave well enough alone in their pursuit of perfection. Sometimes it works. Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo reworked their swings and won majors. Often it does not.
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Spieth made changes and continues to tinker with a swing that too often takes him down a path of doubt and dead ends in another so-so finish.
“It can be hard when it’s been something that’s the norm, when you’ve kind of been fighting through things for a while,” he said. “It’s a process coming back. Any time I get a chance on the weekend and especially anywhere near contention to kind of see where things are, then I’m able to make adjustments and improve from there.”
Spieth has never been an exceptional ball striker. Even when he won five times in 2015, including the Masters and U.S. Open, he ranked 78th in driving distance and 80th in driving accuracy. His distance has improved (41st on tour) but he came into the Memorial ranked 205th in driving accuracy. His short game, and especially his putting, bailed him out in the past, but is not at the elite level of 2015-16. There is more work to do.
Golf is cruel to all. Singling out Spieth as suffering more than his peers fails to recognize that he has earned $41 million from the diabolical game. But seeing bad things happen to a good guy – and outside the ropes Spieth is as decent, considerate and charitable as you will find on Tour – leaves a bad taste. Here is hoping the story changes soon, that Spieth gets talked about for winning and not for talking to himself.
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