Jordan Spieth shares Masters thoughts: Firm Augusta, Rory’s fix and more

Jordan Spieth does not have a good relationship with TPC Sawgrass, and he’s the first to tell you about it.

“Visually, it messes with me,” Spieth said Saturday. Pete Dye would say Yeah, that’s the point.

Spieth had just shot 73 in the third round and pulled away from screaming children hunting autographs for a  brief but candid conversation with a few reporters on the front lawn of the Sawgrass clubhouse. This wasn’t the typical media scrum Spieth sees after a round. There was no camera in his face, and no one really cared what he shot. We were all there to gauge Jordan at this moment in time. As he continues his path back from offseason wrist surgery.

Spieth is one of the best talkers in the sport, especially when you get him like this. Casual and considerate — more contemplative than anything. Which is why that strained relationship with Sawgrass is such a blessing. He’ll compete at the Players Championship another dozen times or more and probably be vexed by it every single time. And every time he talks about that challenge, we’ll understand it, and him, a little better.

“I come in here, I’ve got to be striping it to make the cut,” Spieth said. “I’ll go play [the Valspar Championship] and I’ll be like, Okay, I shot three under. I’ve got a good gauge on where I’m at. I’ll go [to Sawgrass] and I shot a couple under in the first round, Oh, I’m in 28th!? Like what just happened? I don’t know what the deal is here.”

He stumbled into this line of thinking courtesy of a question about Augusta National — a very different course but the next one we really care about. That’s a window into how conversations with Jordan can go. Left, then right, then around a tree and over some water and back to the point. A bit like his golf.

The fascinating point he was making was that he doesn’t need to be striping it, he feels, to still make magic at the Masters. Even though he has only won a single green jacket — thought it may feel like he’s won four — Spieth has shown up to Augusta without an ounce of form and still contended.

“I think the fact that I’ve been there when I’ve been playing poorly and played well and had a chance to win, now I’m like, Well, I don’t really care how I’m playing,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. That’s a nice place to be.”