MIAMI: Jordan Spieth is hoping to play with a smile on his face at the AT&T Byron Nelson this week as he bids to shake off the gloom that has enveloped his golf game since his dramatic collapse at the Masters.
The former world number one heads to his hometown tournament in Texas after a disappointing performance at last week's Players Championship, where he failed to make the cut for a second straight year.
The 22-year-old Texan attributed his problems at TPC Sawgrass -- his first tournament since a final round meltdown at Augusta where he blew a five-shot lead on the back nine -- to an absence of fun in his game.
"I'm beating myself up a little bit too much on the golf course and it's affecting me," Spieth reflected after his Players disappointment.
The two-time major winner is hoping that home comforts at the Byron Nelson in Irving -- a tournament he first played in as a 16-year-old high school student in 2010 -- will help him recover his lost sense of joie de vivre.
"Always fantastic to be back at this event and I'm going to walk around with a smile on my face this week and hopefully work my way into contention," Spieth told reporters ahead of Thursday's opening round.
On his debut in the event as an amateur, Spieth finished tied for 16th, after carding a respectable 276 -- 68-69-67-72.
Before that first appearance six years ago, Spieth would regularly attend the tournament as a spectator with his father.
"This is the event my dad and I would hop the fence to come in and watch," he said. "We also paid for tickets some years. Some years we had to maybe park too far away. I think one year he got his car towed when we were parking little too close. I think I remember that," he recalled.
"But, you know, this is my hometown event, the event I learned to love golf at -- and to try and win this week would be a very, very special moment for me."
Comments
Comments are closed.