Q. Seemed like you were having a lot of fun out there enjoying the crowds and felt comfortable seemingly out there on the course.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, this all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink out here is certainly maybe it's a trial run, let's put it that way. People seem to be taking advantage. But it's nice to be feeling a lot of the hometown support when that's the case.
Yeah, it was a really good atmosphere out here. It's crazy to think we were here one year ago with not a person following. What a difference a year makes and hopefully we can continue to progress that way across the world.
Q. And in terms of your game and how comfortable you're feeling with the swing and as well as with the stroke?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I really -- the first couple rounds I gave myself a lot of chances and I got a little off today for sure. I've got to kind of maybe look at a couple and maybe talk to my coach, just kind of figure out how to tighten it up. I think it was just kind of one of those days where I made kind of one not-so-good swing and then I was just protecting against some stuff.
It's hard, if you get a little off out here, you get pretty exposed because you have to be so precise. Even though I was off, I was then kind of, change the game plan. Let's get ourselves, if we're going to miss the fairway, we're going to miss it over here; we're going to peel it off this side, and was able to make a few birdies on the back nine with what felt like very little when I was over the ball.
I think that was just a position play and a lot of patience. 9 was big for me. I punched it out after being off-line, and got up-and-down for par and it led to a bogey-free, few-under back nine. That was a big accomplishment, okay, let's settle in, let's make kind of the right decisions and then if it starts to feel better, then we can attack the pins.
Q. How much fun was it dueling with Jason and how much did that contribute to your mindset out there?
JORDAN SPIETH: It wasn't really until midway through the back nine where that came up and he made, what, three birdies in four holes, and ended up being, what, four in five or six holes through the 17th. It's never easy to win out here. It's a Saturday. It's one of those where you would like to separate yourself and get a big lead but when he's going to go make those putts on the back nine -- and he's a player that plays with a lot of confidence. I've always noticed that about him. Some guys when they get to Saturday with the lead, you see a tentativeness. He's going to be very difficult tomorrow, along with Sergio who has been playing some tremendous golf the past couple years; Colonial is a great setting for a good finish.
Q. Speak to the setting here at Colonial, how comfortable you are on this golf course and how that fuels the confidence in your game?
JORDAN SPIETH: I've won here but I've had a couple times where I was standing on that fence and watching guys putt on 18 hoping for a miss to get into a playoff. Fortunately I can control my own destiny tomorrow. That's obviously what you want, when you start on Thursday, it's teeing off Sunday with a chance to control what you can; and a course that doesn't really yield super-low scores, and I think that that's nice. The first couple holes you want to get off to a good start but after that, you know, you just kind of plug along. You hit it Point A to Point B and at the end of the day, if you're a few under, it's a really good round out here.
Q. Just the sequence of the first bogey of the week at 5, followed by a good birdie at 6 and par saves after.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, 5, I took driver the last two days and I wanted to take driver the whole week but it just doesn't make sense when the wind is down off the right. There's just no fairway there with those trees. You'd have to essentially hit a controlled slice.
So I went to a 3-wood and never was really fully committed. To be honest, you know, you never want to make a bogey but when I made the bogey, I'm like, good, I was very aware I had not made a bogey for the tournament and to get it back on 6 was just kind of the perfect situation. When I birdied 4, that was really nice. I felt a little more comfort about going off that 5th tee saying, you know, this is okay, this is a hard hole, let's try to get up there on the green in two.
Like you mentioned I put a really bad swing on it on and 8 that led to another one on 9 and that par save was really big. I didn't have much over there in the trees. I kind of contemplated for a minute sending it into the bunker or the grandstands, and that was quickly shut down and I agreed with Michael on let's punch it out and hit a wedge up and see if we can make a putt.
That was rather for me to make the turn at 1-under feeling like, you know, I had kind of got a way with a couple.
Q. What did you hit into 13 and 18?
JORDAN SPIETH: I hit a pitching wedge on both.
Q. And then with larger crowds and enthusiastic crowds, was 18 the largest roar you've heard in a while?
JORDAN SPIETH: It was a good roar. We've had normally longer putts are bigger roars. That was a nice one. I want to say the one on 1 of the first round of the Byron Nelson was definitely the loudest.
They are all comparable. It's just nice to have them back. The roars are kind of what makes these tournaments. That's what gives us that fun energy to feed off of, and we -- again, like I mentioned earlier, comparing this to last year, what a cool setting this course provides versus, you know -- I was in a similar position last year, and it's just not the same.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
108065-1-1003 2021-05-29 23:15:00 GMT
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