After frustrating year, Jordan Spieth has better grasp of what he needs to do in 2019
Jordan Spieth looking to put winless 2018 season behind him as he gets ready to begin 2019 at the Sony Open on Thursday
As he prepares to play his first round of the 2019 PGA Tour at Waialae Country Club on Thursday, Jordan Spieth is sure he knows what he needs to do this year to make up for 2018.
Spieth had, by almost any measure, his worst season as a professional last year. He failed to win a PGA Tour event for the first time since 2014, his last victory coming in July 2017. After finishing two shots behind Patrick Reed at the Masters in April, he had just one top-ten the rest of the season. That came at the Open Championship in July, where he held the 54-hole lead before shooting 76 on Sunday and falling to ninth place. The year came to an early end as the 2015 FedEx Cup champion failed to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake.
Beginning the 2019 season at the Sony Open this week, he admits the success he’s had since coming on the tour as a teenager in 2013 allowed a sense of complacency to sneak into his game. His struggles last year made him realize what was wrong and what he needs to work on. His prime focus is his putting.
Arguably the most important factor in Spieth’s struggles in 2018 was his work with the putter. He fell to 123rd in strokes gained: putting, two years after finishing second. He was 183rd out of 193 players in putting from 20 feet; he ranked 34th in that stat in 2017 and second in his breakout 2015 season, when he won two major championships.
Spieth says he saw signs his putting was improving late in the year and wants to carry that improvement thru to 2019, but he’s still uncertain just where his game stands as he gets ready for the Sony Open.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I have a lesser amount of certainty on that than I’ve had in a while but it doesn’t bother me right now,” he said at his press conference on Wednesday. “I don’t feel anxious, I don’t feel like I have to do anything. I feel pretty patient with what’s coming because I know I’m working on the right things.”
He admits that, although 2019 is a new year, he’s looking at it as a continuation of the work he did at the end of last year.
Spieth says the down year was something he expected to happen eventually. “I was, certainly, frustrated with last season results-wise compared to previous seasons,” he said. “But it was also something I kind of embraced as inevitable at some point in the career.”
He didn’t spend too much time dwelling on it during the offseason, however. Instead, he was busy off the course, getting married to his girlfriend Annie Verret in November and honeymooning in the Caribbean. He practiced less than he has in previous years, but is still confident he’s better able to focus on what he needs to work on.
His goal for 2019 is simply to become more consistent, knowing with consistency will come the results he’s looking for.
“I’d love to get back in the winner’s circle. Been itching. I only really had a couple of chances last year. And I know in golf, you can play the best and still not win that week and you could also be a little off and somehow win,” he said. “So ultimately, it just comes down to being as consistent with my game as I can.”
The test to see whether Spieth learned from his 2018 season comes on Thursday when he tees off at 8 a.m. local time (1 p.m. EST) in Hawaii.