Scottie Scheffler's run? Jordan Spieth says there was one interesting result
Jordan Spieth says Scottie Scheffler's run has inspired him.
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Jordan Spieth thinks the comparison may be unhealthy.
He touched on that on Wednesday in a press conference before the tournament. This week marks his 12th CJ Cup start for Byron Nelson (formerly Byron Nelson) at TPC Craig Ranch (where he was), just northeast of his hometown of Dallas. No one is suggesting this week is Good Friday, but for Spieth, it clearly has a purpose; a hometown event, a chance to play in front of family and friends and a raucous Texan crowd. It is also an opportunity to reflect on his former self; this tournament served as Spieth's first PGA Tour since 2010, when he was in high school.
He has gained a lot in the years since then. He became a Golden Child, winning PGA Tour events and then major tournaments early and often, his first John Deere Classic win at 19, his first Masters at 21, his third Open Championship at the age of 24. good. There were many challenges, such as his fall from World No. 1 to the fringes of the top 100 before returning to the winner's circle and the world's top ten in recent years (entering this week at No. 20). At first, he made golf look easier than any of his peers; In recent years, it seems like a high-wire act.
Enter the comparisons.
“I think a lot of the things I've gone through that have affected me mentally are a lot of comparisons,” Spieth said Wednesday. You've been asked an open-ended question about May being mental health month; that's where his mind went. And he admitted that the comparisons weren't just from the outside – he made them, too.
“It's hard not to, especially when you're so successful early in your career,” he said. Not only is he compared to the outside world with that person, but I have trouble asking myself why I can't do that every week, too.
Spieth added that he has worked hard in recent years to build his mental arsenal to better equip himself to deal with things like pressure or comparisons. He talked about podcasts, about reading, about breathing, about working with experts. He said it helps.
“There are different strategies on how to control it and make it real and say, 'This is what I do and not who I am.' It's hard to separate it a lot of times, but I feel like I'm doing a much better job than I was.”
If that last rant sounds familiar, it's because you, my dear golf fans, have heard it too long. It's the go-to press conference answer and the de facto mantra of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Golf is what I do, it's not who I am. He said it before and after tournaments, win or lose – and lately there have been more wins than losses. The Masters champion has often spoken about how he doesn't want golf to define who he is, at least not to him or the people closest to him. Scheffler's mind is among the strongest weapons in his golf swing.
It makes sense that Scheffler and Spieth would share a vocabulary; they have known each other for years and are regular golf buddies. But it's more interesting to hear Spieth echo Scheffler given something else Spieth said at the same press conference, when asked what it's been like to watch the rise of World No.
“That's a very good question, because I've known Scottie since he was really young,” she said. Not that I wasn't, but he was really young.
Spieth spoke highly of Scheffler, saying he is a better person than a player, calling his success well-deserved and expressing his happiness for him. But naturally it is more complicated than that just happiness, too.
“On the flip side, it's like, it's the first time I've looked at someone younger than me and been inspired,” he said. “Like, I'm inspired by what he does. It makes me want to go out and be better, and that has always been someone older than me. First of all, I feel that way about a little person.”
That makes sense; for Spieth – who turned 30 last summer – there would be Tiger Woods (48) to look up to or Phil Mickelson (53) and perhaps the next generation of majors such as Rory McIlroy (34) and Brooks Koepka (33) . But Scheffler doesn't turn 28 until next month. It's hard for Spieth not to that to compare.
“Because I play decent rounds with him here in the city, I always see you trying to beat him at home, if he plays better than me it's bad. I don't enjoy it when I'm on the sidelines because it wasn't like that for many years,” he said.
Still, that doesn't mean Spieth gave up the high ground for good.
“It's turned around and I feel like I have a lot of running time to get it back. It is encouraging at the same time to try to make that happen. There is nothing I can do to make that happen but myself. Enough is enough. I believe in my ceiling, and I believe that my ceiling is as high as anyone's.”
With Scheffler sidelined due to the arrival of his first child, Spieth enters this week as a 14-1 betting favorite. That is because of reputation and history as it is the latest situation; he has missed three of his last five shots and continues to deal with a wrist injury. But as he looks ahead to the rest of the major tournament season, Spieth hopes this week is the start of something special.
“I would like to win this event,” he said. “It means more to me than many events. I think it would be a good thing to think about it that way. I can be really fired up about it and it's a great opportunity to, like I said at the beginning, reset the season, too.
“So I can look at it as a place where I can maybe look at a successful season and say it wasn't what I wanted until Byron Nelson, and then I used the tournament that was so important to my heart to turn things around again. go ahead and start a good run.”
In other words, Spieth's hunting for a sweet spot where he can seek inspiration from comparisons without being consumed by them. That is a difficult but inevitable balance to strike; golf is fundamentally about comparison, after all. Your score is compared to the average, compared to expectations, compared to everyone else's. Spieth would just like his to compare a little better.
Starting this week.
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