THE 154TH OPEN

July 13, 2026

Jordan Spieth

Press Conference

OLIVIA McMILLAN: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to be joined by 2017 Open champion Jordan Spieth. Jordan, welcome back to Royal Birkdale. Were there some nice memories that came flooding back when you walked onto property?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, definitely, especially playing the closing holes yesterday and today, walking up the 18th and remembering what it was like to walk up that 18th hole nine years ago, putt to the pins that I putted to.

Obviously some of those holes coming in have changed. That was -- maybe the best shot and the best putt I've ever hit don't exist anymore, which is a little unusual.

Hope to create some more great memories here. It's a fantastic track. Maybe the hardest Open venue, most difficult Open venue; obviously weather dependent. It's certainly shown that in previous Opens with scoring.

Dried up this week. It's going to play quite different than the last time we were here. We've had an opposite wind too the last couple days. So we'll see what happens with the wind direction because that's everything out here, right?

Holes that are close to being drivable become mid to long irons, and just with the wind switch, the difference into and down are so dramatic over here that picking a strategy is going to be key, and it's going to be quite different than the last time I was here.

Nevertheless, I have great memories, and just reliving some of the shots, especially in the closing stretch.

Q. Two questions unrelated, the first of which is 13 that year, No. 13, what are your memories of that? How often has that come up over time? I'm sure not lately, but after that, just how crazy that moment was.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's come up probably more than any other hole I've ever played. I remember being pretty decisive in what I wanted to do and being frustrated with the amount of time it all took, just because it wasn't my intent. I remember getting the most out of it and making a bogey there and feeling like I stole a shot back somehow.

Yeah, as I was playing it the last couple days, it was fun to stand on that tee and just kind of be like, wow, this is -- some stuff really hit the fan last time I was standing on this tee from here on in. It was the start of a crazy six-hole stretch, but I was like driver, 2-iron the last two days. It's a completely different hole. You're trying to hit it down the left side instead of the right.

It was nice to kind of play it again and get it out of the way and then come tournament time try to -- it's one of the harder holes on the golf course. Try to figure a way to get around in four 4s and beat whatever I did nine years ago on that hole.

Q. You've won twice since then, which I am sure is not nearly what you would have hoped at this point. Where is your game right now? I think I've heard you say in time you're playing better now than you were back then, you're a better player.

JORDAN SPIETH: Not that I was back then, but since back then.

Q. Where are you? Where do you feel right now where you're at?

JORDAN SPIETH: I feel better than my results have shown. Just a mix of reasons why, but a really good opportunity this week to believe that, trust that. The more difficult the venue, it requires me to really dial in mentally a little bit more, which I think is going to be a good thing.

Then being able to handle whatever comes your way on a difficult major venue and kind of react a bit less. Should be a really good opportunity this week.

Yeah, I feel like I have a lot of great golf in front of me. I feel like I'm way more optimistic than I've been at a lot of different points in my career.

I'm quite frustrated with the results considering I know where my game is at. It's better than it was four or five years ago when I got back to top 10 in the world. It's without a doubt better than it was then; it's just not quite showing up in results.

At the same time, it's a stay-the-course mentality, and sometimes stuff like that is delayed. Sometimes you get rewarded right away, like I did back then maybe in a bit of a lucky fashion, and I understand that sometimes it's delayed, and that's how it feels like it is right now.

Knowing me, when the lid pops off the hole, I feel like I can go on a run about as hot as anybody can run. So I'm just waiting for that opportunity.

Q. I was just wondering if you could talk us through your preparation for this tournament over the last couple of weeks. I know you didn't play Scottish Open, but you must have been out on links courses. And how you sort of adapt your game for playing a course like this.

JORDAN SPIETH: I think it's important, if you don't play the week before, to try to get in and play some golf on the weekend before, so I played Saturday and Sunday, and I played another nine holes today.

Just as I was mentioning earlier, it's almost impossible to overestimate the wind. I feel like I underestimate it every single time the first three or four days that I'm playing golf here. Whether it's a cross-wind or it's into or down, the effect on the golf ball is magnified almost double what it is in the States.

When it's firm like this, it can be even more so downwind. 5-irons are running out to 300 yards. You have to be careful because they put bunkers right at that number before the dogleg on half the holes.

It's important to get over here and really get your distance control, the total distance control dialed in. It's firmer around the greens, making it more difficult. We can't -- some of us who like to use, like myself, a 60 degree and fly balls and spin it a lot, those shots are a lot harder when it's firmer around the greens. It can bounce into it a lot easier. You have to be super precise.

So figuring out different ways to play shots around the greens too. I've been doing a lot of around-the-greens work trying to figure out what the best options are. A lot more putting, stuff like that, and speed control around the greens. Your typical stuff at Opens.

Q. Jordan, what are your impressions of the changes on 13? And then also the long par-3, No. 15?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know what's -- 13 maybe is a little bit longer and maybe one of the bunkers is in a different spot. There's not much changed on 13. It's still one where when the wind goes to its normal direction, there's just not -- if you're trying to be aggressive, there's not much of a place to hit it.

But the hole itself seems very similar to me other than nine years ago it was a strategy to hit it over the bunkers on the right in the right rough. There was very little rough and it was very flat. And now you may not find your ball. They moved a bunch of dirt over there and there's tons of slope, so there is no strategy to hit it over there this year. It's completely different.

I will not be hitting driver down that right side like my plan was every day nine years ago.

Then you said after 13, what did you mention?

Q. 15.

JORDAN SPIETH: I think that 15 can be a great hole with the right tee box and pin with the right wind direction. I thought the old 14th was a fantastic par-3. I think this course has some of the best par-3s that we play in any Open Championship. I think the back tee with this east wind at 3-wood, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense with the way the green is, but it's also not supposed to be that wind direction.

So I think hitting somewhere between a 4-iron that can stop -- like we played the up tee today, and it was 201, but it's in your face and you're hitting 220-yard 4-irons. You still have to hit a nice shot, but if you do, you get rewarded.

It's a really cool designed hole, but it needs to be played at the right yardage. Otherwise, it can get pretty funky.

Q. The R&A have brought in a crowd control code of conduct. Obviously you've made comments about it. Do you think that's a retrograde set, or do you just think it's sensible that something like that has to be introduced now to sort of help golf spectators understand how they should behave? And have you ever had experience over here where you think the crowd have overstepped the mark?

JORDAN SPIETH: I think the fans at The Open Championship are the most knowledgeable of anywhere that we play. So I've never felt that over here. I also don't know what happens outside the ropes to the extent that they might need it. I'm sure, if they felt they needed to do it, then there's a reason.

I've always felt great support but also appropriate responses to shots, stuff like that, from the crowds that are, as I mentioned, extremely knowledgeable here.

Q. Whatever frustration that you have, is it more a product of results or optimism?

JORDAN SPIETH: The frustration in --

Q. Whatever frustration you have.

JORDAN SPIETH: In the fact that I am optimistic and it hasn't resulted, is that what you mean?

Q. Yes.

JORDAN SPIETH: No, because I don't think I'm unrealistic. I have a really good gauge on when my game feels the way it should and I'm producing the shots, like what that should yield. I'm not -- I had to kind of sit back and be like, man, am I as not as on as I think I am? And I had to take a look and dive into stats and stuff like that.

Being realistic where you're at can change your strategy, can change your expectations, and then a lot of times your mentality, so if you're not scoring you could be more patient.

I truly feel it's more with just not having the results that I feel that my game is -- like if I could call every shot, I feel like I've hit a lot of shots. I've called my shots a lot of times that have ended up in maybe less great spots than other times where I didn't feel like I hit as good a shot and it ended up okay. That's just golf, and you just stay with it and more consistent.

I feel like I'm pretty knowledgeable about the shot I need to hit and how far it needs to go. So I think I just keep plugging along doing that. I putted well at the John Deere, which was nice to see some go in, especially on Sunday. It's nice to kind of ride a more recent round into the next tournament.

A lot of it's just been in the majors. I struck it tee to green well enough to win all three majors this year and had three of my worst putting performances. The stroke felt fine; just didn't go in.

So I've been working really hard on, whether it's practice or where I'm playing, how often I'm playing, to try to get the lid off. Stroking it well; they just need to fall.

Q. Going back to 15, when you heard they took away the site of your great 6-iron, did you ever ask them why they built a new hole? And if they answered it, did you like it?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't know who the "them" would be, so no, I didn't, and I didn't have any input. Nor would I have expected to have any input.

In some regard, it's kind of nice because I'll never hit a shot that -- this last time, it was like a walk-off. I go back and try to do it again and I don't hit as good of a shot, then it's not as cool.

Yeah, it was interesting to see because the hole is still there. The tee boxes are still there. Now the patrons are using it for -- but it almost looks like they still use it, but I don't know -- like you could play 19 holes here, it seems. It kind of flows nicely.

Q. Jordan, you made a point to get here early. I assume in part because practice rounds are really getting to be tough. Any golf tournament in any place in the world. They're slow and guys hit a lot of shots around greens. Do you think there's any solution to somehow tightening up that so the practice rounds aren't such a slog and they're enjoyable for viewers and fans and for you guys?

JORDAN SPIETH: I feel that the fans probably enjoy it more the way it is because they see more shots up close, and a lot of shots around the greens can be fun shots for patrons to see.

They're very fast in the elevated events. That's a field size situation, but I don't know that the field sizes are any bigger than they have been. I also don't have information or data that says the practice rounds are slower than they were 10 years ago either.

If that's the case, then that's something, but I don't remember it being much different. The U.S. Open, notoriously slow practice rounds. I got there early for that reason too. Augusta is not super slow. It's a smaller field.

And then The Open can be pretty slow, but a lot of times it's a new golf course that's difficult with a lot of crazy areas around greens. I mean, it's almost always the shots around the greens, right, that slow it down. You're going to hit putts from 30 yards and you're going to hit -- kind of go into these pot bunkers and stuff.

I don't see it changing. I don't know that there is a solution. If you want it to go fast, you go first or last off. Otherwise, you try to play a game so that it feels like it goes a little faster sometimes.

Q. Were you surprised at the time or any more so now that somebody shot 62 here?

JORDAN SPIETH: I don't remember how I felt -- because it was Sunday morning, wasn't it? Brendan Grace.

Q. Saturday morning.

JORDAN SPIETH: Was it Saturday morning? I don't exactly remember other than maybe there's some birdies out there; so other than a little optimism. Having kind of played it more now too and it was a strong east wind and firmer, but it's like I don't see a 62 out there right now.

If there's going to be one, I could see it happening at an Open Championship over the other majors just because so much is dependent on the conditions and if the condition are calm. Like you would think there would be a 60 at St Andrews in calm conditions probably next year, just the way the game is going. People are just shooting lower and lower.

So I think it's a matter of time, technology and depth of golf.

Q. Just off of Doug's first question earlier, most golfers have a period where they're at their very peak and maximize that. I was just wondering, as a professional athlete, are you always confident you can regain that absolute peak, like 2015, 2018? When you're down from that, is it always in the back of your mind, I can get there again? Or do you have to modify your expectations to say that was the peak, I recognise that was the peak, and it will have to be different now?

JORDAN SPIETH: No, I'll never believe that until I'm at a point in my career where my health or whatever would be that because, I mean, if you give up on reaching your ceiling, then I don't see a point in playing anymore.

So for me it's always about I'll do everything I can to be trying to be at the very best in the world because I know that I can be. I have been. It's nice to have the blueprint.

I mentioned it this year, that if you are capable of leading in every category, then you are capable of doing great things. Even in this season I've been able to lead in each of the different categories. It's not like it's been one thing. That's a super optimistic thing, because over the years when I've won in the last five years or so, there's been lagging categories. For me it's just putting it together, which is typically everybody in the game of golf.

But knowing that my ability to be as good -- I mean, there are things I can do now that I can do significantly better than I could when I was No. 1 in the world. Therefore, there should be nothing to stop me in my own head to be able to search and believe that I can reach that again.

I'm 32; I'm not 42. At 42 you'd really have to sacrifice a lot of things to try and do that. I don't feel like I have to.

I feel like I have years that -- how old was Phil when he won his first major?

Q. 34.

JORDAN SPIETH: 34. So there's plenty of -- go back in time, there's plenty of examples where guys have played their best golf from there on. Now, I'm always comparing myself a bit to myself at my best, but not to try to be the exact player. Just more so that I know that I can do it. I know my ceiling is where that level was, and so I'm going to strive for it with the type of player that I am now.

Q. You've waited nine years to come back to Birkdale. Is there an area of the course or the club that you've been most looking forward to returning to?

JORDAN SPIETH: The 14th tee box.

Q. Anything that still exists?

JORDAN SPIETH: I'm not going to be able to get there, I don't think, unless I go hang out with a bunch of people.

No, not necessarily. I really was looking forward to going to the 18th green again. Winning The Open Championship was a significant highlight of my life. It's arguably the best tournament in the world and the greatest trophy in the world to attain and the most worldly golf tournament in the world. So on the list of goals, it was right up there at the top.

Being on that green is where that happened, and I was really looking forward to getting back, walking back down 18 yesterday and reliving what it was like to walk -- the 18th hole at The Open is the most unique finishing walk in golf. To have those memories and be able to walk up there again yesterday was really special.

Q. Almost as iconic as the bogey you made was, go get that. Do you have a favourite story where you've used that or someone has used that against you in the last nine years?

JORDAN SPIETH: Do you know of a time? Are you asking because you know of a time where someone's used it? I don't think so. I didn't know if someone had done it in a team event or something. Or are you just being like in a regular round or something?

Q. It's become kind of a meme. My wife will go, go get that.

JORDAN SPIETH: Sure. It comes up periodically over -- it comes up here and there at times for sure, from friends I play with at home to guys on TOUR or whatever. I think I used it once this year, which ironically I came in 50th in the tournament, so it didn't really mean as much.

I made an eagle putt on 7 of Quail Hollow, and it took me from 48th to 44th at the time probably. It's not quite the same meaning, but it was just kind of funny. Yeah, it will come up as a joke quite often actually.

Q. How did you celebrate that night, and is there anything different that people felt of getting to celebrate with the Claret Jug versus the other -- the green jacket or the U.S. Open trophy?

JORDAN SPIETH: I flew back home that night actually with a bunch of guys to Atlanta, and then I flew back from -- tried to sleep two hours from Atlanta to Dallas. I probably got in at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. Dallas time and went back home.

Yeah, I certainly celebrated on the way to Atlanta, played cards, had a few beers. Then when I got home, Michael came -- Michael was with me, and we woke up and rewatched the final round and kind of fast forwarded through 13 so we could actually watch it without taking six hours.

Then I remember watching it with him and kind of that next morning, Monday morning back at home. Then I went and celebrated with some friends over the next couple of days. I just got home quickly, which was great.