Advertisement

Jones: Innisbrook turns cruel for Jordan Spieth

 
Jordan Spieth, winner of the 2015 Valspar Championship, emotes after missing a putt on the 17th green during the first round of the Valspar Championship. Spieth is currently on the bubble of making the cut after Friday's play (PhotosinMotion.net)
Jordan Spieth, winner of the 2015 Valspar Championship, emotes after missing a putt on the 17th green during the first round of the Valspar Championship. Spieth is currently on the bubble of making the cut after Friday's play (PhotosinMotion.net)
Published March 11, 2016

PALM HARBOR — The last time we saw Jordan Spieth at Innisbrook, he was draining a 28-foot putt on the third playoff hole to win the 2015 Valspar Championship and set up a dazzling year that ended with him being the undisputed No. 1 golfer on the planet.

The next shot he hit at Innisbrook was Thursday. It couldn't have gone much worse than it did. And he had better hope it was not a portent of things to come for 2016.

Spieth started his day on the back nine of the Copperhead Course. His tee shot on No. 10 landed — thump — in a fairway bunker and set up a rather nightmarish day for the best player in the world.

Last year — and for most of his brief but brilliant career — Spieth, 22, has dominated this challenging course. Thursday, Copperhead stung back. Spieth shot 5-over 76, putting him in a tie for 117th and in serious jeopardy of missing the cut unless he can rally today.

"Tough," Spieth said. "Wasn't a very good round. I got off to a poor start, and I was behind the eight ball with gusty winds on a tough golf course."

Gusty winds. Tough golf course. Tricky greens. And a driver that sprayed shots all over. Those things conspired to make Spieth resemble a weekend hacker right from the start.

His day started bad and got worse. He bogeyed No. 10 after the poor drive. His tee shot on No. 11 landed in the trees and led to another bogey.

On the par-3 No. 13, he skipped his second shot past the green and had to scramble for yet another bogey.

He shanked his drive on No. 14 into a dirt outline and hit his next shot only 90 feet on his way to still another bogey.

Add it up and that was four bogeys in the first five holes. He finished with six for the day and just one birdie for a rather crummy day at the office. He was an equal-opportunity destroyer, going 1 over on the par 3s, 2 over on the par 4s and 2 over on the par 5s.

"Today was one of those days where it just seemed that when you don't hit a great shot, you don't deserve a good break," Spieth said.

And sure enough, the course didn't give him any.

"One of those days," Spieth said.

Drives landed in divots or behind trees. He guessed wrong on winds. Approach shots he meant to leave short flew over the greens. When he thought he compensated for the breezes with a little extra oomph, he still came up short.

"Just happens," Spieth said, shrugging.

In his 88 PGA Tour events, he has never reached fewer greens in regulation as he did Thursday: six. When he finally did get on the green, things didn't get much better.

"The greens are about as slow as I can ever remember putting on the PGA Tour," Spieth said. "I don't think they came in from a pretty rough winter here, but everyone has got to play with it."

Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene

Subscribe to our free Sports Today newsletter

We’ll send you news and analysis on the Bucs, Lightning, Rays and Florida’s college football teams every day.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

Just goes to show you how maddening the game of golf can be. Occasionally even the best player in the world can be brought to his knees. By the time Spieth made the turn Thursday, he was hoping just to get back to par.

What's so fascinating is he shot 39 (plus 4) on the back nine. Those are the same nine holes where he shot 2-under 33 a year ago in the final round to charge back from three shots down to force the playoff he won.

"I knew it would be challenging," Spieth said. "I thought 2 under would be a good score and 4 would be fantastic."

Suffice to say, 5 over isn't going to cut it.

"I just didn't hit enough greens," Spieth said.

It has been a head-scratching start to 2016 for Spieth. You remember last year. How could we forget? He won at Valspar. He won the first two majors — the Masters and U.S. Open — sparking talk of the unthinkable: a Grand Slam.

And he nearly pulled it off, missing a playoff at the British Open by one stroke and finishing runnerup at the PGA Championship. The sensational year moved him past names such as Rory and Bubba and Rickie to become the world's top-ranked player and, just maybe, the closest thing we've had to the next Tiger since, well, Tiger.

But 2016 has been up and down. Spieth won the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii but missed the cut at the Northern Trust Open. He has a tie for 21st and a tie for 17th last week at Doral.

It's unlikely he will make much noise at Innisbrook, and that's assuming he lasts past today. Some of that might be due to Innisbrook, a difficult leg on what has become a rather demanding Florida swing of the tour.

"You come to Florida and think that life's a beach," said 2010 U.S. Open champ Graeme McDowell, who shot 3-over 74. "It's hard. … The Florida swing has got some teeth these days."

And the Copperhead Course took a bite out of Spieth on Thursday. When it was over, he needed to lie down.

"I'm not going to wear myself out," Spieth said. "I'm going to go rest. I'm going to go probably take a nap. … (Today) is a brand new day."

He hopes to get off to a good start. It would help to have a good first shot. His first shot Thursday was awful. If things don't improve, his final shot today just might be his last at Innisbrook, at least for 2016.