THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 2013

Jordan Spieth

Q. Your first impression of the course?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it was slower today. I was below the hole I think more, but I left everything short to start the round. It's a little greener around the holes. Maybe that's just the morning versus the afternoon. I don't know what it's going to be like. But definitely, it's getting firmer on the fairways, but the greens were a little more receptive. The pins were, I think, a little easier to get to than yesterday, although I obviously didn't play as well as yesterday. But it seemed to be maybe a foot slower on the Stimpmeter.

Q. How many have you played links before coming here?
JORDAN SPIETH: Quite a few times. I played the Walker Cup here at Royal Aberdeen in Scotland. We played a couple St. Andrews, Kingsbarn and Aberdeen. And then I've played in England a time or two, and Gleneagles here in Scotland, which isn't -- I'm not sure if it's considered links or not.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JORDAN SPIETH: Not as much as a lot of guys here, but I have played in competition on links before.

Q. How hard is it to recover after that bogey?
JORDAN SPIETH: Which bogey?

Q. The double bogey, I'm sorry.
JORDAN SPIETH: Well, it's difficult. 16 is a tough hole today straight into the wind. I just made a bad swing. I made a bad decision on 15 and 17, and then 16 was just a bad swing. There's nothing I could do about it and it happened to plug in the bunker. I felt like I played 16 very well to make bogey. I was trying to stay patient. It was just like yesterday. Yesterday I was, for some reason, extremely patient with just taking my 30-footers and just trying to give myself tap-ins and not worrying about making birdies. Today I finally got to a point where I finally had enough and wanted to really hit it closer. And that's what happens when you try.

Q. That chip on 15, did that get away from you a little bit there?
JORDAN SPIETH: No, it was sitting in the roots. If it was on normal fescue, it would be fine. But it's up against the root of one, and I can't really set my club down. It's got to go through weeds to get to the ball and then right at the ball -- the smart play would have been to aim right and try and hit it down the front of the green. I tried to open face it and hit a big flop, and there's no way to keep your face open when you've got a root trying to turn it over. It was too much. Honestly when it landed, I thought it was going to be okay, and it just never stopped rolling and ended up in the sand.

Q. All those things you're talking about, it sounds like at some point with the John Deere and the trip over, all the things are starting to culminate at some point today, is that fair?
JORDAN SPIETH: No, it wasn't like I was tired to the point where it affected my decision making. Actually the reason on 15, the reason I was even in that position was because I hit my 3-iron too solid. I was trying to just hit a little cutter and I just smoked it, and I ended up in a tough lie. So I had to make sure I didn't hit it in the pot bunker. But I don't think that's fair. I think that's just my personality. It's difficult for me to stay extremely patient. When I have a wedge or 9-iron in my hand, I'm an aggressive player and it's hard for me to hit it to 20 feet and be okay with that.

Q. What happened on 16 (inaudible).
JORDAN SPIETH: 16 was a bad swing and 17 I picked the wrong wedge. That got mental with me on the short putt on 17. It's a dead straight putt, it doesn't matter if you're sitting in a crater, you still should make it. It just got a little mental, 17 and 18 on the greens, but had nothing to do with 15. I wasn't trying to force it, I was still trying to get phenomenon feet. And I hit solid shots on 18 and didn't close it out. It's okay, still in a good position, should be just outside the top 10. And even par at the end of this tournament may be enough.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JORDAN SPIETH: Oh, it's great. I mean Michael and I were talking throughout the round about how cool the crowds are, the grandstands are just phenomenal here, more than any other tournament they're 25 to 50 rows high, and just as wide. So it's fun. Everybody just absolutely loves golf over here, more so than I think anywhere else in the world. It's cool to be at the home. And I'm looking forward to a fun weekend, more people coming out.

Q. Do you have time to sit back and reflect on what you did last week?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, no, it's partly because not great Internet access for me. But also because it's a Major championship, and I'm right back into feeling the nerves of trying to compete out here.

Q. You said that 30-footers yesterday were fine. Today at some point you had enough. What would your approach tomorrow be?
JORDAN SPIETH: Same as the first round. Yeah, I mean, I started to hit a couple of shots closer, on 12 there I hit a wedge to about eight feet. I started to realize the greens were a little more receptive, and I hit it pretty close on 14. I didn't really have an opportunity to hit it close, other than 17 and 18 there. 15 and 16, there just weren't chances to get it close. And I just made the wrong decision a couple of times. So that happens. I mean, it's great that it waited until then to happen in this tournament. I really hadn't missed many shots leading up until then. And now that I missed a couple, I saw how I reacted, I didn't do it the right way and I'll learn from it.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, you know, I need to get to the putting green and work on my short putts and get my mind back right on them. Other than that, yeah, I mean like I said, I think I'm T-26 or T-25 right now, I saw in there, and that's only going to improve. This golf course is extremely difficult. So anybody that's within a few shots of par still has a chance to win the tournament with a good, solid round tomorrow and following it up on Sunday. I think there's just supposed to be no wind. As long as we can navigate the tee balls, hold the fairways, you can still shoot under par.

Q. Did you hit driver today?
JORDAN SPIETH: I did. I actually hit less drivers than yesterday, because the wind changed direction. It was polar opposite to yesterday. So I probably hit four drivers max. Yesterday I think I hit six.

Q. Any golfing in your family?
JORDAN SPIETH: Not a golfing family, necessarily. My dad played college baseball. My mom played college basketball. My little brother is going to start college, and is 6'6". My younger brother is going to play basketball at Brown University. But I wasn't pushed to play golf.

Q. He's on a scholarship?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah.

Q. What's your brother's name?
JORDAN SPIETH: Steven.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I have certain goals that I want to achieve. Obviously my No. 1 goal would be at some point to be No. 1 in the world. Everyone that plays, that's what they want to achieve. So that's the main goal on my mind. A lot of the other goals actually have -- this year's been really, really special for me in taking a big step towards that and establishing myself to being able to play on the PGA Tour for at least a couple of years. So, yeah, that's one of them. And the rest of them are just all -- they change as the year goes on.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it has. From the beginning of the year to now I've learned a lot, and it's been a lot of patience. That's the main thing I think I've learned this year is patience. Patience and confidence on the greens. It's all about your mind. If you can get your mind right on the putting green, things are going to go your way. So, yeah, I try and learn each week. I was in contention a few times and failed and learned a little bit and finally broke through last week. And so now I'm trying to get into contention here and see what we can do.

Q. Is there a particular learning experience where that stuck with you?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, probably Colonial was the one out of all the tournaments I was in contention this year, just because Saturday it was all decision errors. Some of them were just putts I hit that were good putts that missed when you're in contention. You're not going to win every time you're in contention. That was on Saturday, I hit quite a few shots that were decision errors that I really sat back after that week, looked back and said, you know what, there needs to be some big changes in my mental approach when I get in contention, for me and my caddie. Because we weren't smart there, and I feel like we've improved greatly, and there's still a ways to go.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JORDAN SPIETH: No, I had a couple of bunker shots today that really weren't very difficult, that I kind of thought I might give a go, but out here it's a little harder to think about making bunker shots. You want to try to get it out of the bunker first.