What’s happened to Spieth?

[inc0gnito]

He’s not had the best 2018 so far. Not terrible but missed the cut once and has only had one top 10 finish so far. I haven’t followed golf for very long so maybe this isn’t unusual. Just thought he’d be in the mix or had a few wins for a young three time major winner.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

He’s not had the best 2018 so far. Not terrible but missed the cut once and has only had one top 10 finish so far. I haven’t followed golf for very long so maybe this isn’t unusual. Just thought he’d be in the mix or had a few wins for a young three time major winner.

Its called form - all players go through it these days - Woods is the last golfer who was able to be consistent year after year but since then all the top golfers go through patches of a loss of form and its mainly early season - when the Masters comes around these guys will be ready

 

[FairwayDodger]

Tee to green he was never much better than the average on tour but was probably the best putter in the field week in week out. He’s just not holing the putts at the moment.

 

[Dan2501]

Tee to green he was never much better than the average on tour but was probably the best putter in the field week in week out. He’s just not holing the putts at the moment.

Not really true. He led the Tour last year in strokes gained approaching the green and was 2nd in strokes gained tee to green. He's still ranked highly this year too, 6th, so tee to green he's excellent, it's one thing Jordan doesn't get enough credit for.

Big difference this year is his putting though as you say, he's 163rd in strokes gained putting compared to 42nd last year and 2nd the year before. He's not confident over the 4-6 footers, he never has been but it's even worse this season and then on top of that he's not rolling in every 20 footer he looks at like he was in 2015 and 16. He'll get it back though and when you're as good as he is tee-to-green and around the greens (hasn't ranked outside the top 20 in SG around the greens since 2014) the scores will come.

 

[Garush34]

Is he not in the same sort of form he was in in 15 when he won 2 majors and second in another and 4th one shot out of the playoff in the open?

He'll get back to his best, its just a matter of time. Everyone has ups and downs.

 

[drewster]

I'm sure come the first weekend in April his game will be ready and at his level that what it's all about. It'd take a brave man to bet against him placing at Augusta.

 

[FairwayDodger]

Not really true. He led the Tour last year in strokes gained approaching the green and was 2nd in strokes gained tee to green. He's still ranked highly this year too, 6th, so tee to green he's excellent, it's one thing Jordan doesn't get enough credit for.

Probably true enough, certainly in my mind it was his stellar putting that propelled him out of the pack but seems he's got the all round game to go with it. (Although I think someone said he was a bit of a choker.... )

 

[Dan2501]

His putting certainly helped but it was only his putting from outside of 10ft that he was better than everyone else. Inside 10ft last year he was outside the top 100, 50th the year before, and outside the Top 50 when he had his best putting year in 2015. In that 2015 year he led the tour in putting from outside 10ft and outside 20ft. His putting is really good obviously, but it is a little overhyped, he's not that good inside 10ft. However his wedge game and his iron play is up there with the best in the world, Jordan with a wedge is as good as anyone.

 

[TheDiablo]

Probably true enough, certainly in my mind it was his stellar putting that propelled him out of the pack but seems he's got the all round game to go with it. (Although I think someone said he was a bit of a choker.... )

It's a really common misconception that he is just a great putter, peddled and exaggerated by lazy punditry and journalism. As Dan said he's right up there with his all round game statistically.

IMO his biggest strength is his mental game though, so that when he is on form he capitalises on good shots and grinds par on poor holes.

This is just a slow start to the year. Nothing for him to be concerned about at the moment.

 

[Dasit]

He had mono which would disrupted him majorly during his off season

His putting from 6 feet has been shocking

Hus wedge and iron play still one of best in the game

 

[SatchFan]

For putts per round the stats show that from 2013-17 Jordan was ranked 31st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 20th. Not too shabby.

 

[MendieGK]

For putts per round the stats show that from 2013-17 Jordan was ranked 31st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 20th. Not too shabby.

But that’s an outcome of approach play and getting up and down. Total putts Is a pointless stat

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I think it's the case for most of the very top players. They are all pretty much exceptional at most of the game, but when one of them starts holing lots of putts regularly they take over for a while (assuming another part of the game doesn't completely disappear.
For a couple of years Speith was both very good at the long game, but deadly with the flat stick. He's now struggling with the putter (comparatively), but his long game is still pretty good. But if he doesn't hole the putts his scores will seem pretty ordinary/poor.

 

[pendodave]

I dunno what it is, but I like it....

He had a couple of years where he seemed to get every lucky bounce going. Plus he seemed to hole everything. Maybe neither was true, but it certainly seemed that way.

The septic country club set seem to be particularly keen on him, and I think that put me off him a bit. Almost expect nantz et al to start intoning "he's one of our own"...

 

[BubbaP]

People spelling his name incorrectly started to affect his game

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I'm sure he'll be back. Looking at the stats it's his putting figure that's a worry https://www.pgatour.com/players/player.34046.jordan-spieth.html

 

[User101]

What about this stat from the GM FB page...

Jordan Spieth shoots +5 for two rounds to miss the cut at the Valspar Championship. That's his 19th missed cut on the PGA Tour as a pro. Tiger Woods has 18 MCs in his entire career.

wowsers.

 

[inc0gnito]

What about this stat from the GM FB page...



wowsers.

Its a bit like Rory and probably a whole bunch of others. I wonder what it is that makes them lay so well for X amount of time, then not great for long periods of time. I can really think of another sport where people have that sort of pattern.

Sure footballers have have a good season then go back to their previous standard but those are peak moments. Boxers, athletes, rugby players, and so on all typically keep their standards with seasonal fluctuations.

I guess golf is just bloody hard, and it’s more than a mental game that causes such dramatic and chronic fluctuation. Small swing changes here and there whether they’re accidental or intended can probably change someone’s game forever.

 

[Dasit]

Its a bit like Rory and probably a whole bunch of others. I wonder what it is that makes them lay so well for X amount of time, then not great for long periods of time. I can really think of another sport where people have that sort of pattern.

Sure footballers have have a good season then go back to their previous standard but those are peak moments. Boxers, athletes, rugby players, and so on all typically keep their standards with seasonal fluctuations.

I guess golf is just bloody hard, and it’s more than a mental game that causes such dramatic and chronic fluctuation. Small swing changes here and there whether they’re accidental or intended can probably change someone’s game forever.

150 of the best golfers in the world competing on a super tough course weekly.


Even if you play bloody fantastic, the best you can, you might run into someone else who happens to have done that the same week, but they also holed out from 200 yards when you didn't...


Making the cut is a zero sum game, you qualify someone else doesn't.


Usually can be a couple slightly bad shots can take you from being in contention to just missing the cut.



Golf is one of the toughest sports in the world...any mistake of bad luck you get, you just dont get many more opportunities to make up for it.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Plenty of top players have missed bucket loads of cuts. Sometimes it's as simple as a single missed putt to be one over the mark. Apart from the missed cuts not too many performances outside the top 20 here and so hardly going through a Baker-Finch like loss of form https://www.pgatour.com/players/player.34046.jordan-spieth.html