Jordan Spieth finally looks like he’s having fun again

Jordan Spieth shows off the old magic to take the lead at the Waste Management Phoenix Open

If you had forgotten what the roar of a crowd sounds like, how a special moment can make fans erupt in emotion, Jordan Spieth reminded everybody on Saturday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

It’s been three-and-a-half years, but Jordan Spieth finally looked like his old self again as he climbed the leaderboard in the third round. He was flushing long iron shots, holing lengthy putts, and playfully pointing toward the gallery. It added up to a 10-under round of 61, tying a career-best, and a share of the 54-hole lead with Xander Schauffele.

It was a round that the struggling Spieth sorely needed. He made 10 birdies, the most in his PGA Tour career. But most importantly, for a golfer who admitted last year that he didn’t know where the ball was going when he stepped to a tee, he looked like he was enjoying himself once again.

“I felt like I was able to get to a place mechanically where I can start to get back to playing some golf,” he told NBC following his round. “I feel like I played with a lot of freedom today.”

Spieth displayed some of his old magic with the putter on Saturday. He holed out from 68 feet on the 10th. His 36-foot putt for birdie on the “Stadium” hole, the 16th, sent the 5,000 fans allowed in attendance into a frenzy. He followed it with a 29-footer on the 17th, laughing and playing around with a fan who broke his chair while celebrating.

Spieth was once the PGA Tour’s child prodigy, a dynamic talent who became so good, so young. By the time he turned 24, Spieth already had 11 PGA Tour wins and three major championships. He spent 26 weeks as the top-ranked player in the world. And when he won the Open Championship in the summer of 2017, he looked like he was just getting started.

But then the golfing gods fought back. Spieth hasn’t won since that Sunday at Royal Birkdale, nearly 1,300 days ago. He hasn’t held a 54-hole lead on tour since the 2018 Open and doesn’t have a top-five finish in any tournament since the 2019 PGA Championship. His swing was a mess. So was his mind. When he missed the cut at the U.S. Open last September, he admitted what had already become obvious: he wasn’t having fun anymore.

This weekend at TPC Scottsdale can change all that. Still just 27, Spieth has plenty of time to turn his career around and reclaim his former glory. He can begin the journey with a win on Super Sunday.