MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2025

Jordan Spieth

Quick Quotes

Q. Jordan, how is the course playing since the rain a couple days ago?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think I'm pleasantly surprised and pretty shocked at how the fairways are. Normally when we get rain out here it's mowed into the grain, so you just worry about mud balls the whole week. And they sand capped them again. I don't know how many times they've done it.

Even yesterday I was surprised at how quick the fairways were playing and the lack of mud on the ball, which I think is the goal going forward.

I think they have it right where they want it. I think it will get harder and firmer as we get towards the weekend, and the forecast looks like it's going to hold up and just be a beautiful Masters.

Q. Does it seem like it's been ten years since 2015?

JORDAN SPIETH: In some ways yes; in some ways no.

Yeah, it was a different place in life for me than I'm at now. But at the same time, it kind of all blends together here too, so it can feel like it's yesterday at the same time.

It's good memories, but I feel like I've got -- I definitely have some -- feel like I can grab another chance this week. I was playing 16 yesterday, and I was thinking of 2018 I went on a run on Sunday.

I was hitting a putt, and I'm like, man, you just take for granted being in contention on Sunday here. I was doing it a lot early on.

It's just like there's no cooler place to do it, no better feeling. So the goal is to get yourself on the back nine and have a chance.

Q. Coming back from the injury earlier this year, where do you feel like your game is coming into this week?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think I've been -- I think if I -- like I set a goal that I was open about at Pebble Beach, which was to try and have a chance to win an event prior to the Masters. I've had a couple Sundays where I definitely could have done it.

So I think pretty good, all things considered. Still felt like I've been playing catch up obviously. I've played less events than most guys. I missed two of the elevated events, which I'm not in any of them. I'm fortunate to be getting exemptions into ones coming up, which will be really nice and to feel maybe like it's a little less catch-up to do and to get myself in contention against the best players in the world.

So doing it here is a good start. I've got a big stretch ahead. I'd like to work my way back into -- if I've got 11 events out of the next -- sorry. Nine events out of the next 11 weeks, I'd like to have definitely a few good looks on a Sunday.

Q. Do you have a winning score in mind for this week? Or since they lengthened the course, it's been pretty steady in that 10 to 12 range. Any thoughts on where you need to be score-wise to be in contention?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think you stand on the 1st tee and sign for 3-under each day and you feel like you're walking up the 18th with a lead or with a chance.

There's a chance it would be a little harder this year, but a lot of it just depends on what they end up doing with pin placements and if the wind kicks up. Tomorrow is not forecasted to have much wind. Then Friday afternoon it's supposed to have some 20 gusts, which it's just so hard on the greens at 20 miles an hour with the speed of these greens.

I think, if you can get through the first couple rounds in a good spot, then I can answer that question a little bit better for you. The second I answer it, I may be off by 10 shots here, you know.

Q. I think this is number 12 for you. Do you still circle it on the calendar?

JORDAN SPIETH: Of course. Well, it's the first major, so you're getting prepared for it. Then it's also -- I've always thought of this as my favorite tournament in the world. This and The Open Championship to me are my favorite tournaments.

We show up here, and there's just no place like it. You play shots that you don't have to play anywhere else. You hit putts that you don't have to hit that same way anywhere else. Sometimes different is really cool in the midst of seeing a lot of places -- even though it's in the same place every time, you always feel like you're learning something new. It's the beauty of the design of this place.

Q. A few months after you won this in '15, you won at Chambers Bay. I'm curious your recollection ten years later of Chambers Bay.

JORDAN SPIETH: I'd love to go back there. I think Michael lives there, and he said the greens have been unbelievable since the year after that.

To play it with the surfaces a little smoother, had that been the case, we probably would already be going back there. Bit of a bummer because they are that good, that that's maybe holding it up.

I know they've got other big events going there in the process, so maybe that yields another U.S. Open in the future.

It's just such an amazing place there right on the water in June. It's 70 degrees and sunny every day. It's about as good as it gets in the summertime. Great, great sports fans in the city of Seattle too.

That was a special week obviously with Michael living close to there, but also getting a second major in a row and just kind of the hype around that. It was obviously done a very different way than the Masters was. That's the U.S. Open, though. Carnage can happen in that tournament. You never know what to expect.

Q. You talked about being in a different place now than you were in your life in 2015. How has this place in your life helped you with kind of the game of golf and where you feel like you might be able to still make runs like you did?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think -- well, most of it just has to do with managing my time better. I just have different priorities now, right? I've got a growing family, and I love being a very hands-on dad.

So trying to spend work really -- work smarter and not work harder. It's hard to say not working harder. I've probably worked as hard as ever in the last eight months.

But at the same time, doing it in a really smart way. Trying not to waste any shots during the day and stay committed to the process. I just got to where I was bouncing around. Swing feels sometimes three times in a round for last year just trying to figure out how to get wrists in the right places and stuff like that.

I still don't feel like I'm there. So this week's kind of like I've come into here and had a chance to win without my best stuff. I've come in here with my best stuff and had a chance to win. It's still a significant work in progress right now. That just goes to some of the consistencies.

But it's really just a swing here, a swing there from a couple of runner-ups or a win already in a few different events. Luckily around here, I know what to avoid when trouble comes. Hopefully that works in my favor.

It's close, but it's not quite there yet. That doesn't mean that you don't find it through this week. I mean, when I started back up, it was a 10-year outlook, not an April of '25 outlook. It's a little too much to ask to feel I'm the best I've ever been coming off surgery.

So I try to hit the fairway on No. 1 tomorrow and then I try to hit the middle of the green, and I go from there.

Q. You mentioned your family. How excited are you for the Par 3 Contest?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, very.

Q. Why is it so fun? Why is that event so cool?

JORDAN SPIETH: It's full circle, right? I used to play it with myself, Justin, and Rickie, and we were doing hole-in-one bets. Now I've just got to make sure that Sammy doesn't hit somebody. It's a very, very different -- very full circle. I used to see the kids out there, man, that seems to far away. Now I have two walking around with a third on the way.

It's kind of crazy. My son hopefully -- last year he was great. He hit a few shots. Hopefully he wants to again. It's a special day. This place is unlike any other. We don't do this anywhere else. He's going to love it.

My daughter now, she's spunky. She'll be walking around some. We'll see how she does. She's only a year and a half, but I'm excited to have both of them out there.

Q. I was asking Will, and I asked Scottie yesterday if they have a theory on why Dallas guys have done so well here the last decade.

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, Scottie has done well everywhere, and so has Will. I think it's more just caliber of player, and they happen to be from Dallas, if Dallas has anything to do.

Texans have a great history here. Mr. Crenshaw talked about that last night. But at the same time, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson were two of the top ten greatest players to ever to play the game.

Again, in Texas, you've got to learn a lot of shots that are not driving range shots. Out here you just -- you don't get a normal shot very often. I think that has a lot to do with it.