Jordan Spieth had a shot. He was 30 feet away on his third shot on the par-5 11th at Riviera. And he was downwind. And he was in the rough. And there was a bunker in front of him. And the pin was about 10 paces in. And he knew better. Spieth punted. He chipped left.
“I don’t think I get any closer going at it than I just hit it up here, to the fringe,” Spieth told Michael Greller, their conversation picked up by PGA Tour Live mics. “…. There’s no shot at the pin.”
“Showing such great discipline,” Johnson Wagner said from his PGA Tour Live analyst’s chair. “He’s even par, he’s frustrated, he just made the bogey on 10. To show that kind of poise and discipline to play away from that pin, pretty impressive stuff.”
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And it was. The play was wise. But a takeaway from the move from Thursday’s Genesis Invitational first round could also be this: Despite what you may have seen, there’s a method to the Spiethness. He thinks things through. He’s not reckless, at least completely.
With that, let’s go to his second shot on 11.
Off the tee, Spieth had gone right. And now he was in the rough. And he was about 250 yards out. And there were fans to his right. There was more. With Spieth, for whatever reason, there usually is.
About 10 yards ahead of him were two thick trees. They were separated by about two Jordan Spieths. Football came to mind.
“I think he’s going to try and kick a field goal between these huge trees,” analyst Colin Swatton said on the PGA Tour Live broadcast.
Now, Spieth could have punched something out to the left. But he walked this one through, literally at one point — he stepped between the trees, checking what could come off his shot. Spieth went back to Greller. They settled on a higher-lofted fairway wood.
One last thing. Spieth then shouted ahead.
A fan was in the way.
“Sir, that’s what I’m saying — I don’t want to see you on that side of the tree, if you don’t mind,” Spieth said. “Thank you. Other side of the tree. Thank you.”
After one last talk with Greller, Spieth was ready.
“This is all dependent,” Swatton said on the PGA Tour Live broadcast, “on how this club comes through this rough. Tree right, tree left. How much is a field goal worth?”
“This looks tighter than a normal field goal, but this is risky,” Wagner said. “It could go anywhere.”
“Absolutely,” Swatton said. “This could squirt out right on him. It could knuckle over and go left.”
Spieth hit. His club snuck through the rough.
His ball snuck through the right side of the tree gap.
“Look at the size of those trees,” Wagner said. “Oh, what a wonderful shot. … Very impressive.”
And Spieth was on his way to his third shot and another decision.
