Jordan Spieth sat down for his pre-tournament press conference at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play on Tuesday, and among the expected talk of Masters prep and the challenges of the match play format, Spieth got the gathered media members laughing with a story about a run-in with Phil Mickelson when he was young golf fan.
While talking about the obligation he feels to the fans now that he’s a star on the PGA Tour, Spieth was asked if he’d ever been stiffed when autograph-hunting in his younger days. That’s when he dropped the following gem about Lefty.
“There was a time that I was out at the Byron Nelson with my dad and Phil Mickelson and Davis Love were on the putting green, and I was yelling at them, as I now get annoyed while I’m practicing when I’m getting yelled at,” Spieth said, setting up the scene.
With a smile on his face he continued, “When they finished Phil was pulled off in a different direction and Davis came and signed for me. And I thought for the longest time that Phil just blew me off, and that Davis was the nicest guy, and Phil I didn’t care for as much for a while because of that.”
Did he ever tell Phil about it?
“I think I’ve told him this story since then, and of course he probably responded with a Phil-like ‘Yea I knew who you were I didn’t want to go over there and sign, something like that,” Spieth said drawing laughter from reporters.
Earlier in the media session, Spieth commented on what it’s like heading into the Masters this year with Tiger drawing a large share of the attention and hype.
“A month or two ago I might have been up there as tied for the favorite with DJ, now I’m not even on the board,” he said, adding, “Man, it’s nice being an underdog at Augusta. I haven’t been there since 2014.”
Considering that in his last four starts at the Masters (which happened to be his only four starts in the event) he finished T2, 1, T2 and T11, it’s hard not to like Spieth’s chances in two weeks, even with so many great players playing well. And if he does somehow capture his second green jacket, maybe he can finally get that autograph from Phil.
You can watch Spieth’s full press conference below.
.@JordanSpieth talks about returning to his “favorite city in the world” ahead of #DellMatchPlay. https://t.co/yaFjL3Wbra
— WGC-Dell Match Play (@DellMatchPlay) March 20, 2018
