Kevin Kisner said he’d take it easy on the boys. He’d throw just jabs. The spirited pro would cut them some slack this week in his debut as an NBC golf analyst.
“Those guys are my friends,” Kisner told GOLF’s James Colgan.
Consider what follows then perhaps a love tap to Jordan Spieth.
Who paraded around a 3-footer for just under a minute.
You know about Spieth and the shorties, right? They’ve been a thing. Last season on the PGA Tour, he ranked 172nd in putts made from 3 feet or shorter, at 99.13 percent (683 of 689). The season before, he ranked 190th, at 98.75 percent (710 of 719). The season before that, he ranked 110th, at 99.49 percent (779 of 783). Along the way, he’s also rushed a few, like this one at the 2022 Texas Open. And this one, two weeks later at the RBC Heritage. And this one at the 2022 CJ Cup.
With that, we jump ahead to Saturday, on the green on the 15th hole on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, where Spieth had the 3-footer for birdie during the third round of the season-opening Sentry. He was three shots out of the lead at the time.
He went to work. Over the next 48 seconds, as shown on the broadcast, Spieth:
— Crouched behind his ball, rocked backward, rocked back forward, picked up his ball mark and stood up.
— Took five steps back while staring at the ball.
— Crouched down again.
— Took 10 steps on his way to the other side of the putt. He looked there.
— Took nine steps back, to back behind his ball, for another look.
— Stepped forward. Stepped back. Stopped and looked.
— Stepped to the ball.
— Shuffled his feet. Stopped. Shuffled his feet. Stopped. Shuffled his feet. Stopped.
— Looked at the hole.
Kisner watched. About halfway through the process, he said this on the broadcast:
“I’m watching this distance — this is always the distance I make him putt when we play matches because you never know what you’re going to get.
“He’s spent more time on this 3-footer than he does on 25-footers. If I was going to help him, I’d tell him to speed it up a little bit on these and just knock it in. He knows how to make these.”
Spieth missed it, though, his ball hitting the right edge of the cup and spinning out, and he finished for a par five. Afterward, he looked back at the hole. He talked to himself. He noted the wind. The slope. The grain of the green.
Kisner then said this:
“That’s 3 feet, Jordan. Just knock it in, bud. Ninety-nine percent on Tour.”
About the percentages, he’s right.
As for the five words of advice? We’ll let you decide.
And remember:
Spieth and Kisner are buds.
As for the tournament, Spieth will start the final round on Sunday two shots back of leader Chris Kirk.
