Golf

Jordan Spieth starting to see the light after loss of form

The 25-year-old’s tied third at US PGA in Behpage was his best finish in over a year

Jordan Spieth of the United States plays a shot from the 17th tee during the third round of the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Wed May 22 2019 - 15:37

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth insists the hard work he has put in this season is starting to finally pay off with his game in the best place it has been for a while.

The 25-year-old’s joint-third finish at the US PGA was his first top-10 since last summer’s Open at Carnoustie and his best finish since finishing third at the 2018 Masters.

A pointer to his game returning was that he finished top of the field in strokes gained in putting last week at Bethpage, which was always his strength when he was winning three majors in 11 events.

“This is the best I’ve felt in quite a while. I’m very happy,” said Spieth ahead of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club near Fort Worth in Texas, which he won three years ago.

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“I have full belief in my process, my mentality, my selfishness and my work ethic.

“I put in more hours over the last five months than I’ve ever put in my game in a five-month stretch, just trying to get to where I can be.

“I don’t know if I have to change my attitude. I’ve just been waiting patiently for this work to continue to get better but it’s very positive going forward, yes.

“I felt like I made progress and I feel like I can go to a course that I’ve had success at, and is a way better fit for me I think than Bethpage.”

Rickie Fowler is coming off a less successful experience at the US PGA, where he finished 36th after a final-round 77.

He has three top-15 finishes at Colonial but accepts he has to do some fine tuning.

“I just got some work to do. Scrambling and putting (at Bethpage) was great all week. I felt good with how I kind of fought through,” he said.

“I haven’t had anywhere near my best stuff. I just had to find a way to get around and did a good job of that the first three days.

“So (there are) minor things that just need to be tightened up a bit, and we’ll be fine.”