Jordan Spieth is used to being the marquee player in his pro-am pairing, but he had some competition on Wednesday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in the form of 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps.
Like Phelps, Spieth understands the preparation and hard work that goes into succeeding at the highest level. However, that didn't stop the two-time major winner from picking the brain of arguably the most decorated Olympian of all time.
"It was great spending time with him," Spieth said, who had dinner with Phelps at his home on Tuesday evening. "He's offered to continue to advise or help any time I want to reach out, which is just incredibly kind to have that kind of opportunity. It's humbling for me and I certainly should take advantage of it."
Spieth admitted there wasn't a whole lot of time to go in-depth with the conversation on Wednesday. However, that didn't stop him from asking Phelps to compare and contrast the feeling of entering the raucous par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale to that of entering the pool before a big race.
"I was just asking him, walking up there, and he said, it's different," Spieth said. "He gets into the zone, he has his hood on and headphones on, he's looking down and doesn't notice anybody, which is a similar experience, for the most part, when big crowds come.
"But 16 here is a different animal, too. All of a sudden, now it's stacked up. You feel like you're hitting a shot in a football stadium. He said, 'Yeah, I'll be much more nervous here than I would in an Olympics. So it wasn't much in-depth mental state. It was more just, Hey, I'm interested, where's you heart get pumping?"
Spieth will have the opportunity to get his heart pumping again this week in competition after taking two weeks off following back-to-back third-place finishes at the SBS Tournament of Champions and Sony Open in Hawaii.
Instead of taking time to recharge during the break, Spieth went to Japan and South Korea to promote his signature Under Armour Spieth One shoe that just launched on TOUR.
This week will start a stretch of three consecutive starts for Spieth as he ramps up his game for the Masters. While it's still early, the 23-year-old said he's pleased with where his game is at coming off a brief layoff.
"State of the game is pretty good," Spieth said. "In Hawaii, struck the ball extremely well. Tee to green, improved on what I was trying to improve on from all of 2016 and really back into 2015, same kind of move I was trying to do.
One of the things he's hoping to work on starting this week is putting his foot on the peddle. Despite the fact that he hasn't finished outside the top-3 in both of his starts this season, Spieth needed final rounds of 65 and 63 to get there.
"I didn't get off to great starts the last couple of events in Hawaii and had to back-door my way into the finishes," Spieth said. "I'd like to jump out a little more aggressive."