At Memorial, Jordan Spieth’s comeback hits new high for 2 reasons

Jordan Spieth stood at the microphone Saturday evening in Dublin, Ohio, happy with the display of golf he had put on during the first three days of the 2025 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. But the three-time major champion offered a caveat about his chances of shaking Jack Nicklaus’ hand as the winner on Sunday.

“The bummer for me is [Scottie Scheffler is at 8 under] and he just — you know, you can’t count on him shooting even tomorrow, so it would take something special, but all in all, just trying to shoot a few under each day out here.”

Yes, Scheffler, the defending Memorial Tournament champion, will sleep on the 54-hole lead after shooting a 4-under-par 68 to take a one-shot lead over Ben Griffin into the final round. He has won the last eight tournaments in which he has held the outright 54-hole lead.

Spieth will begin the day five shots behind Scheffler after a six-birdie, six-bogey round that saw him shoot even par and finish at 3-under for the tournament.

Spieth’s scorecard might have the look of a day at Six Flags, but the 13-time PGA Tour winner didn’t feel that way. In fact, this is the best Spieth has felt so far in his comeback from offseason wrist surgery and a horrid 2024 season.

His 54 holes at Muirfield Village have him feeling confident about the trajectory of his game for two reasons: the feel of his swing and the major-championship-like test that Jack’s Place presents.

“It just felt like it was close to really good,” Spieth said after the round. “Yesterday was the day where I could have gone really low. Yeah, I mean, it didn’t feel like a roller coaster. It’s nice to have the firepower, the amount of birdies today, on a day like today. The game’s feeling better and better. I feel like I’m hitting my positions on — call it half or 75 percent of the swings when I was searching for one or two in a round, even as recent as a month or two ago. It’s trending in the right direction. I’m able to be a little more outward-focused instead of just trying to make swings, and that’s making a difference.

“A course like this, no matter what happens tomorrow, I know if I’m able to play consistent golf on a course like this, then I’m heading in the right direction, and I just need to stay the course. It’s going to take a little time. … Today, I felt like I was in the mix on the weekend in pretty much a major championship, a top-5, top-8 tournament that we play in the world. So that was fun.”

The weekly stats back up Spieth’s claim that his swing is in a better position than it has been during the early part of his comeback.

Through three rounds, Spieth is gaining 3.912 shots on approach, 1.812 off the tee and 2.380 around the green. That ranks eighth, 10th and eighth, respectively, this week. Those numbers are much better than Spieth’s season numbers. On the year, Spieth is gaining just 0.332 strokes off the tee, 0.157 on approach and 0.212 around the green. None of those rank inside the top 20 on the PGA Tour.

This week, the only negative aspect of Spieth’s game has been his putting, which has him losing .374 strokes on the greens.

Spieth will start Sunday five shots back of Scheffler, a friend and peer whom he has admitted he is chasing, as is everyone else.

“I mean, it wasn’t that long ago I was definitely better than him, and now I’m definitely not right now,” Spieth said at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson after Scheffler’s record win. “I hate admitting that about anybody, but I just watched it those first two rounds, and like — I’ve got to get better. It’s very inspiring.”

Spieth knows he’ll have to do something special to catch Scheffler tomorrow at Muirfield Village. But even if he doesn’t, this week in Dublin, Ohio, has been the biggest week in Spieth’s great comeback to date.

Asked about his confidence level, Spieth said it currently sits at a seven out of 10, which is the highest it has been since his return from surgery.

But the arrow is pointing straight up for Spieth, who is excited to get back to work on Sunday and try to hunt down the game’s best player.

“I know how to get it to a 10 and it’s just more work,” Spieth said. “It’s more of what I’m doing.”