SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 6, 2023

Jordan Spieth

Plantation Course at Kapalua

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about the day and how scorable it is because you certainly did that.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I think it's I would say a little less than last year just because it's a little, it's not quite as soft as last year. The wind was up today. But it's still a very scorable golf course.

What protects your total number is it being a par 73, obviously. But you go in spurts. You have that, like call it 5 through 9 you're looking to go 3- or 4-under, and then you have that stretch of 14 through 18 where you want to take advantage. And then if you can play the other holes 1- or 2-under, then you've got a chance to shoot a low round.

So that's kind of what I did well the last two days was take advantage of the par-5s and then felt like I've hit really good shots on the par-3s. There's only a couple of 'em, but you got to hit some nice ones there. To play those under par is always, you play the par-5s well, you play the par-3s under par, you're going to have a chance.

Q. You seem to have newfound length on 18. Yesterday, I think you had the longest drive of the day. Again, you had an iron in. Is there anything, am I misreading that?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think I got a really good bounce yesterday. I hit the one today pretty hard. But my ball speeds have been up the last year, not on purpose, they just have been. Honestly, I missed the fairway on 18 two or three times last year, so I was just trying to hit it straight down the middle and if it gets out there, great. If not, then it's still fine. It's still reachable in two.

Q. What were the two club selections on the 5s that you made three on?

JORDAN SPIETH: I hit a 7-iron into 5 and I hit a hybrid into 15.

Q. We didn't see you after your chip-in yesterday for par. What did you make of that shot?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, that one, that was up there. That was, I don't know where it ranks for me, but it was up there in the top 10 difficulty and I guess top 10 cool shot for me, maybe, that I've hit, just the full flop with the fluffy rough and the green running away from you. It's just one of those that you just have to be okay if it, you have to just, it's a freedom shot. You just have to be okay if it's 4 feet in front of you and 40 yards past the pin and just trust that it's going to do what you think it's going to do.

The weird part was my foot was in the bunker, so the stance was really odd. I was just lopsided. So that could have made me chunk it so bad I bounce, like it crossed my mind I could hit so far behind it, it could bounce over the ball. So I tried to just kind of stay on top of it and put a lot of speed into it.

Q. Not too often you can club twirl a shot like that.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it was in the air long enough, I think I had time. It's just a reaction on short game shots, I don't know why I do it.

Q. Can you bear with me on the disrespect I'm about to show you on this question, but when you miss two foot putts does it bother you that much or have you done it so much in your career that you're kind of used to it?

JORDAN SPIETH: No, I think that, like out here you get quite a few inside of five feet I think that you'll miss more here than other places just on under reading and under hitting it with not enough speed.

So I missed one yesterday where I just rushed it. And then today I missed like a 3-footer where I actually hit, I like over trusted it. I was like, I know that this putt is a left edge putt, which is unusual from three feet for us, and it has to have speed and I just ripped it right through off the left lip.

So if I hit a really bad, tentative stroke on it, then it really pisses me off. But when I put a good stroke on it it's like, all right, I can move on. And today that was the case.

Q. Secondly, outside of the PGA is there a regular PGA TOUR event that you haven't won that gnaws at you, that you would like to?

JORDAN SPIETH: Riviera.

Q. Because?

JORDAN SPIETH: I just it's like a top one or two favorite courses in the world for me. So I would just love to win there because of the course.

I've won on a lot of remarkable golf courses and that's the one that's missing from my list.

Q. What's No. 2?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well I just said, it's somewhere, you know, the Augusta, the Pebble Beach, I think Riviera is that good.

Q. NCAA doesn't count?

JORDAN SPIETH: No, I didn't -- I won a couple matches, but I didn't win anything involving score.

Q. Where does this course rank on that list for you of favorites? We've talked about it for years since you started coming here in 2014. This is special place to you I know, but where does it rate for you, top 10, top 15?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think it's -- for what we play all year, outside the majors, top 5 easily. As far as in the world? I don't know. Yeah, it's up there. I really enjoy playing here. It's a very fun course to play.

I just love -- you know, it's probably my favorite resort course that we play. Because it can still be a challenge with the wind. And when it's not, it's fun to play. It's scorable, but it's fun.

You still have to hit nice shots. You still have to make putts. To shoot 30-under, for me I'm not a big, like has to be 10-under to be a great golf course winning score. I think if it requires you to hit quality golf shots and there's not too many freebies and stuff like that. I think this one does that. I think as a resort course it's the best one in the world.

Q. Has that appreciation grown for you over the years of this place?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think it's the same as when I first came here. I loved it from the start. So I don't play it really any differently than the first year I played here. You kind of, you know where to hit it every time. You just take into account how firm and fast or soft it is year to year.

But it's fun, because the wind today seemed to dry it out just a little in the fairways. And that was, that made it really fun. I think it's at its best when it's firm and fast.

Q. You've been 30-under here before. Is it going to take that again to win this thing this week?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't think it will get to -- I don't think -- what am I at? I'm at 13. 17-under is hard in two days. But Collin's about to do it the first two days. You just have to have a lot go right to be 17-under on a muni in two rounds, you know what I mean?

I think -- hopefully the wind stays up the next couple days and it just requires 6-under a couple more times. So I think, I would imagine some mid to high 20s though.

Q. As much as you like being here and as hard as it is to win out on TOUR, does the new criteria take some of the pressure off getting back?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I guess so. I haven't qualified via the new criteria yet. But I think that it would be great if I happen to have to. I would rather not, but, you know, I think the quality of the field gets better. I was a bit surprised it didn't bounce back after the COVID year. And the first year they did two --

Q. It did for one year.

JORDAN SPIETH: Oh it did for one year? The two guys in that playoff, neither one had won. So that was obviously different. I don't know who was third. I think Justin was and he wasn't so happy about it.

But, yeah, I think overall if you can get, if you can get as many of the top players in the world playing on the most beautiful and amazing golf courses to be able to showcase that, and this being one of 'em, especially given the time that it is and the weather you have in the majority of the United States, being able to play in prime time as well. I think it's a massive advantage for us on the PGA TOUR if we can do that.

So if it becomes a World Ranking criteria, that would be great as well, just to try and get as many of the top guys as you can.

Q. Should they change the name?

JORDAN SPIETH: Possibly. Yeah. I mean...

Q. Looking for a yes or a no there. Actually, I was looking for an answer. Do you have a solution?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think you should find probably a Sentry guy or something to ask that to. That's not my domain. That's above my pay grade.