Go figure.
Last month, Jordan Spieth had one of the worst putting weeks in his PGA Tour career and defeated Patrick Cantlay in a playoff at the RBC Heritage.
“I won this golf tournament without a putter,” he said after averaging -0.636 for the week in strokes gained putting and ranking 60th in the category.
Last week, Spieth said he felt like he putted the best he’s putted all year during the PGA Championship and, after coming in 1-2 in his last two starts, tied for 34th.
“It just doesn’t show on the stats, but it was the most free-flowing strokes I’ve had,” Spieth said.
So, what is in store for the world No. 9 this week in the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas?
“I think it’s a matter of time before the lid comes off and I start to pour some in,” Spieth said Wednesday at Colonial. “A little disappointing that didn’t happen last week. I misread a lot of putts. Out here, I don’t really have the excuse of misreading putts because I should know where most of them go having played this course 60 to 75 times. I’m excited about that.”
Spieth has always been excited to play Colonial. In nine starts, he has a win in 2016, runner-up finishes in 2015, 2017 and 2021 and three other top 10s. Only once has he finished out of the top 15.
“I think the results show that I love this place,” he said. “It seems to, for whatever reason, fit my game really well and I really enjoy playing it. It requires some precision in the wind off the tee, obviously hitting fairways being of huge importance here, given how difficult it is out of the rough.
“But then I’ve putted well here. I love the slopes of the greens and seem to find success regardless of form coming in some years, and some years I’m in form coming in and then play well here.
“I’ve been playing really well, and last week was kind of just a little minor step back,” Spieth added. “I’m looking to try and tighten some things up and get back into contention. I had a few chances to win events, but that was kind of about it this year, even though I’ve played really good golf. So, I’m trying to maybe play a little more consistently in the top 10 on the weekend, and you never know when it goes your way sometimes.”