Jordan Spieth never goes about his business quietly and while his results have been solid if not spectacular, he has been weird, wacky and wonderful and there are signs that he is getting back to his best.
New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp emphasised the importance of the product when discussing potential changes to the US circuit. But a lot of that is player dependent and having Spieth, Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka contending regularly in the biggest events would boost any product.
Spieth is now injury free after a few years where he was plagued by injuries and it has been a decade since he was in his pomp but there are signs that he is on the right track. The three-time major winner was impressive for his first two rounds of the Players Championship – with six birdies in seven holes on Friday which included some remarkable recovery shots – and in typical Spieth fashion he finished rounds one and two with double bogeys which prevented him from contending. A triple bogey in round three added insult to injury.
But in that he made 18 birdies and his iron play looks to be on song again, ranking 8th in approach to the green, a key element heading to Augusta.
Spieth’s statistics again don’t point to anything groundbreaking. Not to take the Jason Cundy route but there are “encouraging signs.” 55th in strokes gained approach, 29th in strokes gained putting, his strokes gained overall ranking of 36th would be higher if his driving was better than 121st.
“I’ve been playing really well, trying to let the course come to me. Don’t have to force anything. It’s not quite there yet, but it’s like close enough to where I can do what I did today for a while,” he said on Friday after signing for a 68 despite a closing double.
“I’m doing everything well. The stats aren’t necessarily showing exactly how solid things are. I feel like I’ve hit a lot of especially approach shots the last two weeks where I’m posing, saying, man, I did my job, and then I’m just shocked at where they end up, short or long or whatever. I think that’s pretty normal for last week and this week.
“But it’s been better than my scoring. I toed a drive on 18 yesterday and then on one of the easiest holes I made a 7 today, and it’s just a bit of a bummer to finish that way, right. They don’t tell the story of how I’m really playing.”
Spieth was the IT man for USA. He formed a sensational partnership with Justin Thomas in the Ryder Cup but last year he found himself clinging to his place in the top-100 in the world and off the Ryder Cup team.
However, the story of how Spieth is feeling is one to be encouraged by going forward.
“My wrist, it’s awesome. I don’t think much about it. There’s days where I wake up and it’s tighter and I’ve got to get it loosened up because one of the key factors to my ball control is using my wrists more. I used to use it a lot more and then I got away from it when I was hurt.
“So it is really nice. It was nice to work structure in the off-season and not worry about rehab or anything like that. So I’ve mentioned this the last two weeks, the last two or three tournaments, just feels like things are getting better and better each week.”
His partner in crime Thomas made a sobering return to action at Bay Hill two weeks ago with rounds of 79 and 79 but he came roaring back in vintage fashion to finish 8th at the Players Championship.
Thomas is a two-time PGA Championship winner but boasts only six major top-10 finishes outside of those Wannamaker Trophy successes and none since 2024. It is symptomatic of his golf, another player that is unpredictable but his presence on the first page added more weight to Sawgrass.
Thomas, just four months after back surgery, showed glimpses of what he is capable of if fully fit while Koepka is closer to Spieth’s trajectory with solid if not spectacular results but looking close to being very good again.
A closing double bogey cost the five-time major winner his second successive top-10. Again, this was a performance built on iron play (4th in strokes gained approach) and there were some good signs with the putter as he continues a project of work with Phil Kenyon.
While the body of work for Thomas is small it does seem that Koepka and Spieth are very close to knitting everything together. Koepka, like Spieth, will rue a costly stumble on Friday where he suffered a bogey-double bogey-double bogey stretch, which began at the 12th hole.
Not only would it be brilliant for the PGA Tour to have this American trio back firing on all cylinders but with the Masters less than one month away they might be timing their run for Augusta National.
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