DUBLIN, Ohio — Buried in gnarly tough Thursday on the Memorial, the prudent shot for Jordan Spieth was to chip out sideways again to the golf green. That is what his caddie advised.
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That is not how Spieth operates.
“It’s really hard to get me to chip out,” Spieth stated after he opened with a hard-earned spherical of even-par 72 at Muirfield Village. “I chip out perhaps lower than anybody else that is each performed the sport of golf.
“It’s demoralizing enough that I’ll make a terrible decision not to.”
That is what he confronted Thursday on the par-5 fifth gap after a tee shot that hit a tree and bounced barely backward, making a lie that went in opposition to the lengthy blades of grass and left him a lie that was near unattainable.
What to do?
No commentary is critical. Spieth supplies that on his personal.
“If it gets to the fairway, I can make 4,” he informed Michael Greller, the caddie who has labored with him for the reason that U.S. Junior in 2011. “Versus do I still make 5 if I can’t get it to the fairway.”
The golf green was solely 115 yards away — the lie was that unhealthy. They reasoned that if he did not carry it to the golf green, he’d have to put up once more due to water in entrance of the inexperienced. Spieth nonetheless figured he may get that up-and-down for par.
As he settled over the shot, Greller made one final pitch: “Why don’t you hit it right there?” he stated to Spieth, indicating a chip-out to the left.
“I don’t want to hit it right there,” Spieth stated. “Because I’m hitting good shots, and they’re getting absolutely boned so far, so I can’t accept it.”
Nobody can fault Greller for making an attempt to speak some protected sense into him, and this wasn’t the primary time. Spieth is conscious of that.
“His hands are tied on some of those,” Spieth after his spherical, after which revisited that shot on the fifth gap. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to reach the fairway, and I talked him into … I could still make par either way. The reality was eight of 10 , I’m not going to cover. I should punch it out.”
He hammered it. The ball caught the primary lower and barely made it again to the golf green. That left him 128 yards to the outlet, and his third shot was 25 ft beneath the outlet.
Spieth holed the putt, after all.
“It actually got to the fairway and I made birdie,” he stated, “which doesn’t help the whole cause.”
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