The Loop
Jordan Spieth switches back to his old irons, sounds ready to take back No. 1 spot
Lost amid Jason Day's dominant performance at the Barclays was the week's (year's?) most puzzling question: Why did Jordan Spieth change his irons ahead of the FedEx Cup Playoffs?
This was the same Jordan Spieth who won the year's first two majors. The same Spieth who won two other PGA Tour titles during the regular season and ascended to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking thanks to a solo second in the year's final major. Things were going well, to say the least.
Then Spieth arrived at Plainfield CC last week with a new set of irons and missed the cut by five shots in what was his worst performance during an otherwise historic campaign. The change wasn't drastic -- Spieth put the new model of his Titleist AP2s in play -- but clearly the 22-year-old star needed a little more time to adjust. As a result, Spieth has his "old" clubs back in the bag at the Deutsche Bank Championship:
And at his pre-tournament press conference on Thursday, he explained why he made the move in the first place.
"So I've never had trouble transitioning between my AP2 irons, these are new ones. I changed at Congressional, the last couple of years. I just went to a new set, normally change once a year between irons. And even when they've updated the irons I still had no problem.
"This time there's -- I had some time at home to change in between the PGA and the Barclays, and didn't see many issues or any differences, so I figured it would be no problem. And then I just felt that they were sliding through the turf a little different and the look was a bit of an adjustment. They looked slightly different. I still think they're going to be a better iron. I think they are improved. But most of what I did was I hit off mats with Cameron. I did some practicing off grass in the off week, and of course I practiced at the Barclays prior to playing. But didn't see many issues on the driving range, but once I got to some uneven lies and whatnot I could tell some difference. My old irons, I switched back to this week, they're not beat up enough to effect it negatively. I figured I'll go with what I have this year, until after the Presidents Cup, and then I'll find the right fit."
OK, so Spieth usually changes irons in the middle of the season. But again, to do it during this season? In any matter, he should feel more comfortable this week at TPC Boston where he'll try to regain his top spot in both the OWGR and the FedEx Cup standings.
"It stinks to lose that position, it really does," he said.