"IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I’M CLOSE TO BACK TO WHERE I WANT TO BE.” 

DESPITE SUFFERING A SETBACK WITH HIS WRIST INJURY DURING THE FIRST ROUND AT PEBBLE BEACH LAST WEEK, JORDAN SPIETH "PUT IN A FEW GOOD DAYS OF WORK HERE AND THOUGHT I PLAYED BETTER THAN I SCORED.”

THURSDAY WASN’T CLEAN — HE MISSED EIGHT OF 14 FAIRWAYS — BUT HE BOGEYED JUST ONCE, AND HE WAS SOLID IN STROKES GAINED: APPROACH, A METRIC HE STRUGGLED IN LAST YEAR. IN 2024, SPIETH RANKED 137TH ON THE PGA TOUR IN THE CATEGORY; THURSDAY HE WAS AMONG THE TOP 20 IN THE FIELD. 

“TO PLAY A ROUND IN A FEW UNDER OUT HERE WHEN THE CONDITIONS WERE — THE PINS WERE REALLY TUCKED TODAY SO IT WAS A LITTLE HARDER THAN A NORMAL FIRST ROUND IN THE MORNING HERE, AND TO FEEL LIKE I LEFT A FEW OUT THERE IS A REALLY GOOD FEELING,” SPIETH SAID. “IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I’M CLOSE TO BACK TO WHERE I WANT TO BE.”