Spieth Finding No Negatives In Grand Slam Quest, Says He's Hit Worse Tee Shots Than Birkdale's 13th

Dave Shedloski with a fun GolfDigest.com account of Jordan Spieth's pre-WGC Bridgestone thoughts. It's rather apparent the possibility of a career Grand Slam is not weighing on him as much as clearing the air on that 13th hole tee shot at Birkdale.

"I'm not really finding any negatives in this. I've been asked this a few times, and I mean this. … It’s just a major. I say that, they are still the four events that we try to peak and think most about at the beginning of every year. But this PGA, if I'm healthy and playing well, I play in 30 of them, I believe I'll have plenty of chances to win them, but it doesn't have to be this year. If it's this year and it happens, that's great, that's another life-long goal that we've then achieved. But I believe that I'll do it someday, so if it happens in two weeks or next week, then fantastic, and if it doesn't, then it's not going to be a big-time bummer whatsoever because I know I have plenty of opportunities.”

As for the pretty awful tee shot at Birkdale that got worse when it hit some poor person in the head and headed east of a dune prompting a 20-minute pause in the action?

Spieth now says the hideousness of the shot has been blown out of proportion. He's hit worse. Ron Green Jr. writing for Global Golf Post.

“I missed my right side of the fairway by 20 yards-ish and it hit the guy in the head and then went over the next mound. So essentially it was 20 yards offline. I hit balls further offline than that on a regular basis, but where it ended up and what it looked like compared to the fairway for viewership was way offline.  

“It really wasn’t that bad. I mean, it wasn’t a good shot. It was a foul ball to the right, but I need to back myself up here in saying that I’m capable of hitting worse shots than that, OK?”

He also discussed watching the final round with caddie Michael Greller. 

Your Initial Reactions: Jordan Spieth Wins The Open

I'll have a longer recap here and a ShackHouse will be posted tonight.

In the meantime, Golfweek's quick recap and my story on the 13th hole chaos as a lucky eyewitness.

Forbes: Rory 7th Among Athletes, Ahead Of Phil, Tiger, Jordan

As always take these numbers with a grain or two, but at least we see where golfers are lining up with the highest paid athletes.

Rory McIlroy landed T6th on the Forbes list at $50 million, tied with Andrew Luck and ahead of Steph Curry. The year comes on the heels of winning the FedExCup and finishing fifth in the Race To Dubai. His $16 million in on course earnings accounts for his 2016 PGA Tour play, FedExCup and European Tour play in the June 2016 to June 2017 window used by Forbes.

Phil Mickelson ranked 12th, with $43.5 million overall, of which $40 million was from off course endorsements. Tiger Woods at No. 17 is credited with $37.1 million of which $37 million was made off the course. And Jordan Spieth ranked 21st, making $34.5 million, with $29 million of that credited to endorsement income.

Spieth Explains Where Erin Hills And Chambers Bay Differ

Nick Menta at GolfChannel.com reporting from the Memorial where Jordan Spieth explained the differences between 2015 U.S. Open venue Chambers Bay (where he won) and 2017 host Erin Hills.

From his pre-tourney press conference:

“Chambers Bay, you had big mounds to play off onto the greens. [Erin] is kind of rolling hills. Although, neither one has a tree that I remember on the golf course. It was kind of a new-style American Links type. They both are. But I think they’ll play tremendously different.”

I believe the flyovers highlight what Spieth speaks to, but this is a great distinction to keep in mind. The greens at Erin Hills are more exposed and require way more aerial play than Chambers Bay. Plus, by all accounts the course is lush and we won't see the extreme ground speed we saw in 2015. That should please players and those who prefer a traditional inland U.S. Open "test", but annoy links enthusiasts.

Spieth After Pre-Masters Missed Cut: Other Players Know "We Strike Fear" Next Week

Will Gray reporting from the Shell Houston Open where Jordan Spieth's missed cut wouldn't have turned many heads except for a fascinating post-round quote.

The 2015 Masters champion said:

“I think we know, and the other players that are playing next week know, that we strike fear in others next week,” Spieth said. “So that’s our idea, that’s going to be my confidence level going in, and we’ll step on the first tee ready to play.”

Spieth Co-Designing Par-3 Course For UT Golf Club

Kirk Bohls reports that Jordan Spieth has entered the design world as a consultant to Roy Bechtol on a par-3 course for UT Golf Club in Austin.

The course will be called The Spieth Lower 40.

“I’m excited about it,” Spieth said. “It’s going to be a cool little par-3 golf course that will be demanding visually but still fair for really solid wedge and short game work. I was definitely very hands on. I looked at the blueprints, the mapping, the scale. It’s cool being part of the design process with Roy because I’m interested in doing that later in life.”

The 4.5 acre course is under construction with a goal to open in September according to coach John Fields.

Spieth Gives An Astute Take On The Vagaries Of Match Play

While much has been (rightfully) made of Jordan Spieth's desire to put the Masters behind him in hopes of putting the 2016 condolences to an end, I found his comments on match play to be of note.

Some background: on top of finding a lively spot in Austin with a strong sponsor, the WGC Dell Match Play is benefitting from a round robin format that has quieted most of the "vagaries" or "flukiness" of match play talk. 

Still, some understandably miss the knock-out element while others simply will never think match play is a proper format. For both camps, Spieth's comments are worth reading and considering. Because instead of focusing on the potential of running into a buzzsaw, he sees those days as survival opportunities.

This tournament is difficult to win because you can't shoot 6-under seven times in a row. Nobody does it. So your days where you maybe shoot 1, 2-under, your off days need to be 1 or 2-under, for one thing. And when that happens you hope you meet an opponent who is around the same.

In order to win a match play event, which I've done going back to U.S. Juniors, you've got to squeak out one or two wins where that wasn't very pretty. And that's kind of how it works in this event. Guys aren't running away from it. And you don't get lucky with the guy across from you not playing his best. You meet a guy when he's playing great and you're playing great and you have to win that match. And then if you're off, if they're a little off, you have to find something in you that allows win it.

And he is very much a play the course and opponent type, as he laments here in thinking of his loss last year here to Louis Oosthuizen:

You're only playing against one other guy. Play off of him. Take chances where you need to, but back off where you need to.

And I maybe got a little bit too aggressive mentally against Louis. And he's a very difficult player to play match play, such a beautiful swing, a great driver of the golf ball, makes you think you have to do more than you really need to do.

Also Spieth suggested he would love to see a major decided at match play as the PGA once was. This Sky Sports story has the quotes.

And one last reminder, there's an Odyssey and pride involved in the ShackHouse WGC Dell Match Play bracketology. You have until 10:00 am ET Wednesday to enter!

Spieth's Ballstriking Carries Him To AT&T Title, Carson Daly Wins Pro-Am

Kevin Casey of Golfweek.com has the notes wrap up of Jordan Spieth's 2017 AT&T National Pro-Am win.

Most striking Sunday was how Spieth's ballstriking seemed to carry him down the stretch as his putter cooled off. For someone often wrongly accused as being merely a great putter, the ballstriking display had to make his critics take notice. Ryan Lavner with a wrap of Spieth's ninth PGA Tour win, including this:

In 2015, Spieth ranked in the top 15 in strokes-gained driving, approaches, short game and putting. It was clinical. But Spieth’s ball-striking tailed off last season, and he said he worked as hard as he ever has during the offseason with swing coach Cameron McCormick.

“He’s always hungry,” Greller said. “He’s not somebody who is ever going to coast. It’s fun to work for a guy like that. Always hungry. Always driven.”

The hard work has paid off. Though he has bemoaned a cold putter – the middle two rounds boosted his confidence, pouring in putts on spongy, bumpy greens – Spieth has been one of the best iron players on Tour and ranks inside the top 10 in strokes gained overall.

“People think it’s only his putter,” Greller said, “but he’s incredibly well-rounded when you really break down the stats.”

In Pro-Am news, 10-handicapper Carson Daly (10!) teamed with Ken Duke to shoot 63 sunday and finish at -33 net to win. James Raia reports for the Monterey County Herald.

And flashing back to Saturday, Bill Murray avoided letting Phil Blackmar talked to him, and appeared to have a beef with the cameraman.

The final round highlights from PGA Tour Productions: