Jordan Spieth paired with PGA hero Phil Mickelson for shootout at Colonial
- Dave Tindall
- 26 May 2021
The Texan, who can sleep in his own bed at the Dallas event this week, is favourite to win the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Local hero Jordan Spieth loves playing in the Lone Star State.
The last time he teed it up on his home patch, Spieth ended his four-year winless streak on the PGA TOUR by scoring a two-shot victory in the Texas Open.
A Dallas native, the 27-year-old will now bid to win this week's Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial for a second time following a first triumph in 2016.
After the three-time Major winner's welcome return to form, he's the bookies' favourite to do so and Paddy Power make Spieth 10/1 to hoist the silverware again.
One big advantage as he looks to decompress a little from last week's intense PGA Championship is that Spieth is able to sleep in his own bed. That allowed him to hit the course early on Monday after flying back from South Carolina.
And, as well as getting the chance to play in front of his home fans again, Spieth has also been handed the opportunity to rub shoulders with Kiawah Island hero Phil Mickelson.
The duo are part of a Thursday morning three-ball alongside defending Colonial champ Daniel Berger.
Spieth is 6/5 with bet365 to shoot the lowest score on day one, with Berger 13/8 and Mickelson 14/5. Given his reputation for fast starts, Spieth is surely the bet.
With a win and two second places in this event, Spieth is a huge fan of Colonial Country Club. He talked about his love for the place in Tuesday's press conference and also revealed how he once got Mickelson's autograph!
On his liking for the course
"I love Colonial. I've had a lot of success here, won once and then finished runner-up a couple times. I had chances to win a number of years. I love this golf course, Hogan's Alley, you've got to hit a lot of different golf shots. I get a lot of great support in this DFW (Dallas Fort-Worth) area and have for those last nine years.
"So I very much look forward to this week. It's one on the calendar that has been very special to me. Coming off of the last two weeks, I feel good about kind of knocking a little bit of some rust off and feel good about kind of where things are at. Just need to see a couple putts go in, and the lid comes off, and hopefully we get off and running."
On playing in his home state and why he thrives there
"Texans are proud of Texas, and I'm no different. I love being here. I think you obviously have to play in wind. It's kind of got its own identity, golf in the state of Texas. So I think, when you're used to it, I think it's a little bit of an advantage. But at the same time, all the golf courses we play in the state are very different from each other. The one constant is you're going to get a couple different wind directions. You're going to have to really kind of control the ball with your short irons into greens, and Colonial is no different on that front.
"Yeah, it's nice to be able to sleep in my own bed. That's always great for tournament week. Kind of don't use quite as much energy up. You're able to recover a little bit better. Like I mentioned, Colonial, I've probably been the most successful at this one out of any of them.
"So coming in feeling in pretty good form. Just need to tighten things up and let kind of the tournament settle into the rounds."
On why he performs so well in this event
"I'm not really sure because I look at -- there's a few tournaments where I kind of, I guess, have the most opportunities to win out of any. I think of like Kapalua, as far as when I've been there, Augusta, and they're very different from Colonial, and those two courses are similar in a way with kind of how much feel you have and slopes.
"Colonial, it's a Hogan's Alley -- fit it into tight windows, trying to hit fairways, and control the ball on the green. I've putted these greens historically very well, that's number one. I've had a knack for reading and dialing in the speed out here.
"Play it kind of the smart way. There's always -- there's a place you can get into big trouble around the greens here, and there's a place where you can kind of end up being able to make an easy par. I just feel like I do a really good job of staying committed and not making those mistakes. It's normally -- it doesn't yield 25 under. It's normally anywhere from 12 to 18. So you don't really have to take too many chances.
"You're going to get enough wedge opportunities, I think that, if you just kind of play patient golf and, again, don't make those mistakes. And like I mentioned before, just kind of let the round start to get settled versus having to force things, I think I've done a good job of that here.
"To be honest, I wouldn't say -- it's just been kind of one from 2013 I just really love being out here. I like the shape of the holes, and I like kind of the mixture of the wedge opportunities with some of those par-3s in that 'horrible horseshoe' (holes 3-5), all those three holes, where you really just kind of hold on for a little bit in the beginning of the round and you can go take advantage."
On a poor putting week at Kiawah Island
"Sometimes it's a mechanical thing. Sometimes it's just putts didn't go in. Sometimes it's a speed thing. For me last week, it was a little combination of things. I've got quite a bit of work to do, but I know what it is. I just have to put in the work to get it dialed in.
"Hopefully, just being on greens that I've seen putts go in before, having similar putts and just being confident in the reads will be something that will really be helpful this week."
On energy levels after a Major
"I think it comes easier being in my own bed more than anything. Yeah, Major weeks take a lot out. Like I was out there on Monday afternoon, when I would normally take a Monday off in a four-week stretch, and you're trying to learn a new golf course, and then they're normally more difficult tracks, where it just requires a more mental and physical energy.
"So I tried to do a good job of finding a way to really get recovered that Monday, Tuesday, to really feel like you get recovered, but then you also stay sharp between the ears and physically and step back into it. I think being able to sleep in my own bed is a huge advantage when doing that."
On whether he'd ever tried to get Mickelson's autograph as a kid
"I did, yeah. I did. I actually -- I still have it. I actually know where it is now that I mention it. I have the Sports Illustrated when he -- the jump when he won the Masters, when he was in mid-air six feet off the ground, with his signature on it.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 22, 2017
"I won it in an auction at like my sister's school when I was really young. I must have been like 12 or 13 or 14 or something. But I remember going out and following him because he would come to the Byron Nelson and play. I came to the Colonial a couple times in grade school as well, and he's always been good at this tournament.
"First time meeting Phil, I remember the first time I was paired with him was 2013 in the playoffs, and it was the final round of the Deutsche bank, and I played really well. Then he went out and called Freddy Couples to help get me on to the President's Cup team. So my first kind of playing with him encounter couldn't have gone any better.
"But I mean, over the years, just being in rooms with him at those team events is probably the most memorable times with him, but also any round that you play, just how he treats everybody. Obviously, the thrill of watching his rounds of golf, where he could go shoot -- he could have six birdies in a row. He could also hit a drive onto a different hole and still make birdie, and he could look like he's -- I mean, it's Phil the thrill, right?
"It's just so much fun talking to him. He's got a wealth of knowledge. He's always been really helpful to the younger guys on getting us pumped up, inspired, somebody you could bounce ideas off of, whatever you want to call him, a 10, a 5, wherever he's going to be, a place in the game in history, to have that person be so welcoming and be so good to the younger generation out here too and then set the example he has, I think we're really lucky with that."
