Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open belonged to Thomas Detry, but all eyes will be on Jordan Spieth come early afternoon on Super Bowl Sunday.
Detry started the day with a slim lead over Michael Kim, Alex Smalley and Spieth and never faltered in the third round. The 32-year-old Belgian, who is searching for his first-career PGA Tour win, methodically dissected The Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale on Saturday, finishing the day at 18-under-par, which is five shots clear of Spieth, Kim, Daniel Berger, and Rasmus Hjogaard who sit at 13-under.
Detry will sleep on a big lead Saturday and is in a position to make Sunday a sleeper unless he opens the door for Spieth and others to come charging through.
The 54-hole margin doesn’t hint at a drama-filled Sunday. But there’s no question that golf is getting what it wanted and needed for the second week in a row.
One week after Rory McIlroy delivered a ratings boost with a dominant Sunday to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, one of the Tour’s other non-Tiger needle-movers is finding his game to set up a Super Bowl appetizer to watch at the WM Phoenix Open.
Spieth returned last week after having offseason wrist surgery and struggled around Pebble Beach. Per Data Golf, Spieth lost strokes in each part of his game at Pebble, including finishing the week losing .79 strokes on the greens.
The three-time major champion was prepared to struggle out of the gates, but he has found something in Phoenix.
Spieth has made just one bogey through 54 holes and has gained 1.83 strokes on approach, 0.61 strokes off the tee and 0.96 strokes putting. That display has Spieth inside the top two of a leaderboard through 54 holes for the first time since the 2023 Valspar Championship. Assuming he stays within arm’s reach of Detry on Sunday, this will be the first tournament since last year’s WM Phoenix Open in which Spieth finishes within 12 strokes of the eventual leader.
While a bogey-free Saturday at TPC Scottsdale doesn’t scream Spieth on paper, it very much felt like the Spieth of old had returned at the WM Phoenix Open.
Spieth arrived at the drivable par-4 17th and immediately blew his tee shot well right, leading to a furious point with his finger, a leg kick, and a club drop.
He hit his second to 32 feet and two-putted for par.
Then came the par-4 18th. Spieth hit his tee shot left into the “church pew” bunkers and then dumped his second into the greenside bunker.
Shortsided and seemingly staring at bogey, Spieth splashed out to 16 feet and buried the par putt to card a bogey-free, four-under-par 67 and give himself a fighting chance Sunday.
“I was in the last group off the back nine last week, so I’ve definitely gotten better in a week’s time,” Spieth told CBS’ Amanda Ballionis after the round. “With this kind of improvement, I’ll be where I want to be soon. I didn’t swing it as well today as I did yesterday. Yesterday I felt really good. I thought it was going to continue to get better each day. I was struggling to kind of find where I was getting in my rehearsals for the actual swings.
“I’ve had to make do with less than my best a little too often in my career, so at least I have some experience. It was nice to shoot 4-under par on a day where I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff and the pins were a little bit harder.”
Spieth is still working to diagnose where he had limitations with his wrist injury and what is still “lingering” as he starts his comeback. That shows up mostly in Spieth’s backswing, which is why he has instituted a rehearsal as part of his pre-shot routine.
“It’s a lot of the backswing stuff,” Spieth said. “From there, if I get the backswing in a place where my DNA, just where I have had it back in the past, then I’ll figure out the rest. That’s kind of why there’a rehearsal. I don’t want to do it all the time, but it definitely helps me right now and for the foreseeable future.”
Spieth admitted he had “some nerves” Saturday as he got back into contention for the first time in a year. He hopes that after going through it Saturday, and with Detry five shots ahead, the pressure will fade on Sunday, and he’ll be able to cut loose.
“Being five back means there’s a little bit of the pressure off because it’s just go gun sling and try to make birdies,” Spieth said.
The PGA Tour needs a healthy Jordan Spieth. He might not win Sunday, but his resurgence this week in Phoenix is already good enough for golf to chalk up another needed W.
In just his second tournament back — and with McIlroy absent and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler down the leaderboard — Spieth is providing his trademark spark to one of the PGA Tour’s marquee events and has set the Tour up to be a worthy appetizer to Sunday’s Super Bowl clash between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs.