2021 Waste Management Phoenix Open: Round 3 - Reaction on No. 17

2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Jordan Spieth on Right Path, in Right Place, at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Four days before the start of last week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, which was two days after he missed the cut in the Farmers Insurance Open, Jordan Spieth was putting in work at TPC Scottsdale thinking he didn’t have any chance of winning.

Ten days later, on the eve of the start of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he’s no longer feeling as lost on the golf course.

Spieth’s best result in a year – a tie for fourth in Phoenix that included a spectacular 10-under-par 61 that lit up the golf world last Saturday – was a significant confidence boost as he continues his hopeful journey back to golf’s stratosphere following his alarming fall into an abyss three years ago.

When you stick to something and you start working at it, it feels a little better each day that you do it, when you’re doing it correctly. Jordan Spieth


He’s been building confidence for some time now, little by little, and is certain the things he’s working on have him on the path back to where he once resided as he reached No. 1, won three legs of the career grand slam and 14 worldwide titles before turning 24.

For the first time in a while, Spieth started thinking he had a chance to win for the first time since the 2017 British Open after opening 67-67 in Phoenix. His 61 put him in a share of the 54-hole. A depressing 72 on Sunday, when he hit just five fairways and made but two birdies, left him disappointed but encouraged.

“I saw a little bit of success last week, but for me it’s about the feels more than it is the results and I know when it starts to feel a certain way that the results follow,” Spieth said Wednesday after his pro-am round at Pebble Beach. “I love that I trusted what I was working on all four rounds, knowing that it wasn’t necessarily going to fully be there and I think that kind of trust and that belief just pays off.