Despite ‘bad mood’ and loss of lead, Jordan Spieth (70) remains in Nelson hunt

Jordan Spieth shot 2-under 70 Friday to lose his co-lead at the AT&T Byron Nelson after a way-too-early start to his morning.

“When I wake up at 4:30 (a.m.) I’m in a bad mood just as most people probably are and I needed to kick that today,” Spieth said. “By I think yesterday even when I wasn’t playing a good hole I was kind of laughing at the miss or chunked it and laughed. Today I had a shorter fuse.” 

After contracting COVID-19 and not playing the past four weeks since the Masters, Spieth came out firing at TPC Craig Ranch on Thursday, shooting 63 at his hometown tournament and finishing the day with a 55-foot putt for eagle.

But after not practicing for three weeks, Spieth said it caught up to him Friday. He’s 11 under, three shots back of leader K.H. Lee.

“I was a little tight starting out today for sure,” Spieth said. “It transferred into my swing. I mean I’m young enough, there shouldn’t be any excuses. I’ll be fine. Just get some treatment and some compression pants and be ready to go tomorrow.” 

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Looking forward to this weekend, Spieth said he’ll throw out today’s performance and try to go back to Thursday’s feels by getting more compact with his swing. “Then I really got to get dialed in with a putting feel, Spieth addedd. “I’ve missed six or seven putts inside of 10 feet the last two days.” 

Before Spieth’s hiatus, he had seven top-15 finishes this year, including his first Tour win since 2017 at the Valero Texas Open. He also tied for third at the Masters. 

“I’ll just get some better rest tonight and then like I said tomorrow will be kind of a fun test,” he said. There is no reason for me not to trust everything I’m doing. At this point, I’ve got an opportunity to contend here, and if I can get myself a chance on Sunday, that is the best prep for this tournament and also next week.”