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Jordan Spieth blames Heritage putting woes on the Masters: "I got Augusta'd"
Streeter Lecka
Every aspect of Jordan Spieth's game is out of sync. He's outside the top 200 in strokes gained/off-the-tee, 111th in approach, and 82nd in sg/around-the-green. But the putter gets most of the blame, as for the second straight season Spieth's Scotty Cameron has been the bane of his existence.
That remained true on Thursday at the RBC Heritage. Spieth's even-par 71 will have him fighting to make the cut at Harbour Town. This in spite of leading the field in greens in regulation thanks to 33 putts.
However, according to Spieth, the putter is not so much to blame as is last week's venue.
“I really got Augusta'd out here," Spieth said. "What I mean is, I was still putting to the speed of Augusta. I haven't fully made the transition away from that. And as we are expecting high winds I'm sure the greens will slow down even more to make it fair. I'm really going to need to dial in my speed on the greens. Just tough out there coming off last week to this week, to get yourself to pop it harder than you really want to.”
Spieth, who bounced back after an opening-round 75 to finish T-21 at the Masters, felt his putting was better than the stats show.
"I felt like I hit my lines. Again, it was just the speed control on a couple of my misses or at least trusting to play them high enough that they'll actually break that much," Spieth said. "It's good."
Though Spieth entered Friday six shots back, the 25-year-old feels like he can make a weekend run, especially with bad weather on the forecast.
"I felt like I hit a lot of really good shots today. It is tough out here when the wind is kind of swirling through the trees. I haven't played here in four years, I forgot about that," Spieth said. "I felt like I stayed really patient, took some punches today on some wind gusts or whatever it may be, and some putts that almost went in. But with the conditions we have coming up through the next three days I kept myself in it. I really could have shot two-or-three-over today. And feel like the game is progressing."
Spieth, who hasn't had a top 10 since last year's Open Championship, tees off at 12:50 p.m. ET on Friday.