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The PGA Tour is in San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open this week. While many of the world's top players are taking the week off in preparation for next week's Masters Tournament, Jordan Spieth is using it as a chance to springboard himself into the season's first major.
Spieth came out hot on Thursday, carding a 5-under 67 to sit near the top of the leaderboard.
“I improved a lot week to week in what I needed to in some of my scoring clubs and approach play, which is important going into next week obviously,” Spieth said after his opening round.
“I'm just trying to get better and better with that. I need to tighten up the scoring clubs, like some of my wedges, just a little bit more, and there are a couple of shot choices, but all in all I'm very pleased.”
The former Masters champion is still recovering from wrist surgery he underwent last fall. The results thus far have been all over the place. He has a couple of top-10s to his credit but has also finished outside the top 50 in a couple of events.
But on Friday, it appeared he might take the lead into the weekend. But some poorly times mishits late during his second round saw him plummet down the Texas Open leaderboard.
As the three-time major champion stood on the seventh tee (his 16th, he began his day on the back nine), Spieth was 6-under for the tournament and solidly in second place.
That is when things went awry.
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Spieth's tee shot on the par-3 7th went long into the rough. Instead of getting up and down to save par, his second shot failed to reach the green. That culminated in a bogey-4 on that hole.
He was unable to get it back on the par-5 8th, carding par.
On his final hole of the day, his approach shot once again went long into the thick stuff. He hit a decent chip, giving him a 12-footer to save par, which he just missed. After tapping in for a bogey, Spieth could be seen nearly throwing his putter in frustration.
“I didn't play very well today by any means,” Spieth said after his round.
“I had less control of the ball and was hanging in there for a little while on my front nine. Then I really, I lost four shots chipping from this rough around the greens on the last nine holes. Each one, it's like, well, it could jump or it could — felt like I was just picking heads or tails and just losing each one.”
Following the late mishaps, Jordan Spieth will enter the weekend at 4-under par and is currently tied for 11th with golfers still out on the course.
