McKINNEY — After months of rehabbing, grinding and finetuning since his left wrist surgery last August, Jordan Spieth has tangible results.
His 9-under-par 62 on Sunday, which vaulted him to a fourth-place finish in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, is the latest and best evidence that he is priming for the PGA Championship in two weeks, where he’ll have a chance to join Rory McIlroy as the latest to complete the career grand slam.
But Spieth also was reminded this week that returning to his old form as a three-time major champion still might not be good enough to beat the current No. 1 player in the world — a fellow Dallasite whom he knows very well.
Related:For Highland Park’s Scottie Scheffler, a win at hometown Byron Nelson holds special place
Spieth’s 19-under finish still left him 12 shots behind that of winner Scottie Scheffler, with whom Spieth played the opening two rounds and often plays with at Dallas National and Royal Oaks and Trinity Forest.
“I know if I’m able to clip him when we’re playing at home, then I’m playing really well,” Spieth said. “That’s just the way it’s been the last few years. It didn’t used to be that way. I used to get him every time.
“It’s inspiring what he’s doing. It makes me want to work harder and be better, especially after watching him for two days and just getting my butt kicked. I didn’t play great golf, but even if I did, it would have been hard to be at 18-under in two rounds. I don’t think I’ve ever done that.
“So just getting your butt kicked right there face to face at this tournament really stinks. It’s a little icing on the cake, I guess, to finish to backdoor into a top 10 or top 5 or whatever ends up happening.”
Before anyone gets Spieth’s words twisted, he considers fellow-Longhorn and Dallasite Scheffler a friend and said he was glad one of them finally became the first local product to win the CJ Byron Nelson Cup since Scott Verplank in 2007.
Scheffler’s victory gave him 14 PGA Tour wins to Spieth’s 13, but Spieth still has the edge in major championships, with three to Scheffler’s two.
Although many seem to have forgotten, or for some reason don’t credit him appropriately for it, Spieth won the 2016 Charles Schwab Championship in Fort Worth — about as close to a hometown win as it gets, roughly 30 miles away.
In 2022, Spieth finished second in the Nelson, one shot behind winner K.H. Lee. Last August, Spieth, 31, had surgery on his left wrist, alleviating pain that he’d experienced for the better part of two years.
He was asked Sunday if it was nice seeing himself and Scheffler at the top of the leaderboard.
“Three years ago I was there, which is cool; that was probably the best chance I ever had in this event was ’22,” he said.
“With Scottie there — I don’t think this counts. I went off two hours ahead of him. Yeah, it would have been really cool if I were the one in that last group, and at least we were going back and forth a little. That would have been pretty fun, just being hometown players.
“We had awesome crowds the first two days. I wish that I would have been able to keep up with him those two rounds.”
Scottie special: See photos from Scheffler’s win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson
View GalleryRegardless, Sunday marked Spieth’s third top ten of the season and his fourth straight tournament of finishing 18th or better. As he said at the Masters, when he had surgery it was with a 10-year vision in mind, not necessarily winning golf tournament right away.
Sunday might have provided a breakthrough in that the four-foot putts on which Spieth has found himself grinding seemed easier. He credited the 21-foot eagle putt he made to complete his third round of Saturday.
“My mechanics are just getting a little bit better each week,” he said. “I’m able to do sufficient stuff maybe that I wasn’t able to do last year that maybe my wrist is holding me back; I’m not sure.
“I feel really good about what we’re working on. I know how to — I need to get a little bit on top of — I started to get some nerves going on the back nine. I didn’t drive it great when I was driving it really well, so I need to figure out why that was.
“Little nuances like that when you start to feel like you’re in contention — I mean, contention for second place, but in contention nonetheless. The more you can do that, the easier it feels the next time. So just try to go in the next week and just cap off what these last 19 holes were here.”
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