Mired in a year-long slump, but coming off his two best finishes of the season (T30 Valero, T21 Masters), Jordan Spieth was hoping to continue his upward trend at the RBC Heritage.
“I’m trying to play golf courses where the greens and the grass type and the conditions suit my game, and I haven’t done a great job in my scheduling this year thus far with this new schedule,” said Spieth, earlier in the week.
“But I think adding this event was really good for me.”
After opening rounds of 71 and 66 at Harbour Town, all did seem good for Spieth. He was 5-under par – just four shots off the lead, and appeared to be in great position to land his first top-10 finish of the season.
A Saturday round of 3-over 74, though, dropped the 25-year old Texan from inside the top 10 all the way down to T42, while a final-round 75 sent him spiraling a bunch more spots down the big boards at Hilton Head Island. He finished the week T54 at 2-over par 286.
In eight of 12 starts to the season – 67% of the time, Spieth has finished 45th or worse (55, MC, MC, 45, 51, 54, MC, 54), while his four other starts are nothing to write home about: 35, 24, 30, and 21. It’s mind boggling to see this kind of form from one of the game’s top superstars – a man once referred to as the “Golden Child.”
From 2014 through 2017 – four full years, Spieth won 13 times, worldwide – three of which were majors. He finished with 40 additional top-10s, including 18 times in second- or third-place.
That averages out to 3.25 wins, 10 additional top-10s, and nearly one major title per season.
