Jordan Spieth is different. But so is Royal Birkdale. Maybe that’s a good thing
The last time Jordan Spieth was on the golf course was nine years ago when he walked down the 18th fairway at Royal Birkdale with the Claret Jug in hand. That Sunday, Spieth joined Jack Nicklaus as the only player to win three different majors at age 23 or younger. Everything was in front of him.
Things have been different for Spieth since that day at the 2017 Open when he painted his masterpiece. He has only won twice on the PGA Tour since then and no majors. No longer a golf wunderkind, Spieth returns to Birkdale changed by time and life.
“Both [on course and off] I am very different; I’ve changed a lot,” Spieth told GOLF at the PGA Championship in Aronimink when asked about the transition from being a golf champion to a superstar trying to find an ember to rekindle the flame.
That day outside of Philadelphia, Spieth claimed that his game was in the best place since his debut. Everything didn’t click at the same time, but the game is here, back to the level shut up where he was that day in Southport. Something was just missing. Get it, and maybe the dominoes will start to fall.
So, when Spieth arrived at Royal Birkdale, he went back to where he was last that Jordan Spieth.
“Going up on the 18th and I remember what it was like to go up on that 18th hole nine years ago, [I putted] on the pins I put them in [that Sunday],” Spieth told the media on Monday.
There is something to be said for going back to a place where you fulfilled your dreams and letting those memories fill your soul, pointing you in the right direction. But you will never be what you once were. Perhaps in that sense it is good that a different Jordan Spieth arrived at a different Royal Birkdale.
When Spieth won at Southport, he made an improbable bogey 5 on the 13th hole after blasting his shot to the right, hit a fan in the head and had to take an unplayable putt, finally playing his third shot from the driving distance. That won’t be an option this week. In the years since his victory, Royal Birkdale has undergone some changes. The right of way on the 13th will be considered out of bounds this week; it is now a fan zone and OB will start on the cart path to the right of the mounds.
That’s not the only change at this year’s Open boss. The par-3 14th, where Spieth hit a 6-iron to 5 feet to start his birdie-winning run, is gone. The hole was cleared during repairs along with the par-5 15th, where Spieth made a 50-foot eagle putt and yelled “Go get that!” for caddy Michael Greller, it’s now the 14th hole and that green has been moved to the highest point.
“Obviously, some of those fairways have changed,” Spieth said. “That [6-iron at 14] probably the best shot too [the eagle at 15 was the] best putt I ever hit. They don’t exist anymore, which is a little unusual. I hope to create some great memories here.
“In a way, it’s good because I’m never going to hit a shot – this last time, it was like an out. I go back and try to do it again and I don’t hit it right, so it’s not cool.” Spieth said.
Time only goes forward. Living in the past can be a prison. Trying to get back to what you were is an unrelenting mess, only destructive poison.
It’s been nine years for Jordan Spieth. The nine years didn’t go the way one thought, after all. But Spieth returns to Birkdale not in search of the past but filled with undying hope that the future holds something greater.
“I won’t believe that until I get to a point in my life, whatever that might be because, I mean, if you stop reaching your ceiling, I don’t see the need to play anymore,” Spieth said. “For me it’s always about doing everything I can to try to be the best in the world because I know I can be. I have been. It’s nice to have a plan.”
Spieth’s game has been in constant flux this season. He has cut 16 of 18 and has eight top 25s but zero top 10s. When the ball hits, the putter has dropped it. When the flatstick moves, a few big numbers deviate from a promising week.
“I feel like I have a lot of great golf in front of me,” Spieth said. “I feel more optimistic than I’ve had at many different points in my career. I’m frustrated with the results considering I know where my game is. It’s better than it was four or five years ago when I was back in the top 10 in the world. Without a doubt it’s better than then; it doesn’t show well in the results.”
Spieth, now 32, knows he still has a lot ahead of him. Time is of the essence, major tournaments only come four times a year and opportunities to further your name in history cannot be wasted. But he’s not trying to cross the sun that’s getting dark just yet.
He can still be everything he wants to be – everything many thought he could be.
“How old was he?” [Phil Mickelson] when he won his first medal?” Spieth asked. The answer is 34.
“There are a lot of examples where guys have played their best golf since then,” Spieth said. “Now, I always compare myself a little as much as I can, but not trying to be the best player. The main thing is to know that I can do it. I know that my ceiling is where that level was, so I will strive to fight for it with the type of player that I am now.”
The canvas from Spieth’s Mona Lisa may be gone, but the belief and conviction that allowed him to paint it remains. All that remains is for us to find what is missing in the last place he had.
