The absence this week of Scottie Scheffler and the precautionary withdrawal of Will Zalatoris due to the back problems he suffered last year place Jordan Spieth as one of the favourites to win this week at the THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, a tournament that takes place at the TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. And although the 13-time winner on the PGA Tour doesn’t want to get his hopes up for a home win that has eluded him for over two years, he had no problem in his official press conference addressing his current situation at the start of a season in which he is not achieving the results he expected.
How he arrives at the tournament: “Last week I wanted to hit the reset button and took more days off than usual. I was a bit tired of looking for things. I wanted to take some time, clear my mind and then get back to it. I took a couple more days off than usual, I see it as a kind of reset. I haven’t had the year I wanted after a rather optimistic start in Hawaii. I feel very good about the work I’ve done since the weekend so I think I’m close to doing great things again. Three top 10s up to this point in the season was not really what I had planned. I would love to climb positions in the ranking, be a bit more regular and have chances to win tournaments”.
His wrist problems: “I’m doing a couple of different things to help treat the symptoms I experience and to avoid the recurring problems I’ve suffered. I do a lot of things off the field, in the therapy department, whether it’s treating the tendon or treating the nerve in general. I think it’s helping me. Maybe I strayed a bit from it when I got into a more intense stretch of competition in the last eight weeks, so I had a couple of instances that weren’t good. I hope it doesn’t happen in the future with what I’m doing off the field even though I’ll play a lot”.
What failed him at the Masters: “Two holes, just two holes. Without that, I could have had a chance. I’ve shown that if I’m in the top 10 on Sunday I have a chance to win, it’s always been like that there. But there were two holes where… my game wasn’t tight enough and maybe I made decisions that were too aggressive around the greens. A small combination of both, on the 1st and 15th of the first round. The second day was different”.
The implementation of the equity programme: “A couple of players called me and were excited about their grants… but I don’t know what they were. They were delighted because it was more than they expected. I had conversations until this year with some guys who didn’t get it and who would have got it other years, so I heard both sides. As for the implementation, I think it was clear to everyone, there were PGA Tour officials every week who could clarify any doubts for anyone who needed it. I thought it was a good idea because it’s confusing for players about when it’s acquired, what’s the best idea for taxes… not all of us have people for that and it’s a bit complicated. As for the rollout, I haven’t heard anyone as upset with the process as with the idea that they’ve missed it, but obviously there were also people delighted”.
The moment of Scottie Scheffler: “I’ve known him since he was very, very young. Not that I wasn’t, but he was more so. I think he’s a better person than a player and having known someone and seen him grow and go to the University of Texas, I’m excited and happy for him. It’s very deserved. On the other hand, it’s the first time I look at someone younger than me and am inspired. Just as I feel inspired by what he’s doing. It makes me want to go out and improve and that’s always happened to me with older people. It’s the first time I’ve felt it with someone younger. I play a lot of rounds with him here in town, I see him a lot and try to beat him, and when he plays better than me it’s a ‘shit’. I don’t enjoy it because for many years it wasn’t like that. But now it’s turned around so I have to try to get it back. It’s inspiring at the same time as I try to stop it from happening. There’s nothing in my way to stop me from achieving it except myself. I believe in myself and that my ceiling is as high as anyone’s. I have to get every part of my game to reach it, in a couple of aspects I’m about to, so if I do, we can compete”.
Mental health in golf: “I think a lot of the things I’ve struggled with and that have affected me mentally have been comparisons. Being stuck in comparison mode or ‘life or death’ mode and not separating it from real life, letting the results dictate who you are. It’s hard not to do it, especially when you have so much success early in your career and you’re compared to other people or when you wonder why you can’t do it every week. I listen to good podcasts, read good books… and in the past I’ve worked with some people. I feel that the last couple of years I’ve been much better mentally than at other times in my career. There are different ways to handle it and to come down to the real world and say ‘this is what I do and not who I am’. Sometimes it’s hard to separate it, but I think now I do it much better than before”.
